Apprehensive

I see mom two to three times a week depending on my work schedule. I like to stop in on my way to work.  Works out nicely.
So I stopped on Tuesday.  On Thursday we have plans to go shopping and have lunch.  On Tuesday she was having a bad day.  She couldn't figure out where she was in time and space.  She needed to use the restroom and didn't know where it was.  She was thirsty and couldn't see any clean glasses because of all the dirty glasses.  There were no glasses on the table.  She knew she was having a bit of an odd day. 
It's hard to see her on days like this.  She hasn't really had a bad day that I've seen for awhile.  We appear to be past the rages and just go on our days sleeping or doing the activities in the cottage.  So it was odd.  And probably not....she probably has these days and I just miss them.
But it makes me apprehensive as to how Thursday is going to go.  We have had many plans for shopping that don't happen.  And if I had to judge by Tuesday I would guess Thursday is going to go like that. 
However when I got my sagely email that tells me what activities she participated in today she was active.  So maybe it was just a fluky day.  Still hard when we know this is where it is all heading. 

Sell, Sell, Sell

Mom and I are both getting lots of those pieces of mail where someone wants to buy our houses.  And they make it sound attractive.  Sell as is, no realtor so no fees there, easy peasy. 
For Mom there is the cap gain rules to think about.  The last I checked you had to live in a house two out of the last five to get away from owing cap gains.  Another year and she is at that point.  We do not want to pay cap gains when we need that money to pay for her care. So it is something I am starting to think about.
That said.....we live in her house.  So we have to move when that time comes.  And so I am still constantly on the hunt for our next place to live.  I really don't want to move back to an apartment.  And I'm not sure we can afford one that isn't a complete dump. 
So when these little fliers come in the mail I think about it.  If I sold it I would still have quite a bit left even after paying my cap gains.  I could buy a mobile home and still have a good chunk of the money left to supplement my income. 
But then I think maybe I could just get a mortgage and keep the rental house as it is income coming in every month.  Ahhhhhhhh.  So I keep looking and I keep thinking.  And in the mean time I do nothing because the income does come in every month. 

World Thinking Day

It feels like we have been doing nothing but girl scouts.  Today was World Thinking Day.  Many troops got together and gave presentations about different countries.  The only comment the little woman made was she was shy.  Every so often that happens. 
Anyway, her troop choose to do Brazil.  And that's about all I know about that.  I know they didn't get their extra day to work on it due to snow. 
The little man wants to know when he can start boy scouts.  Maybe I should check on that.  I'm thinking second grade, but I could be wrong.

Cookie Booth

The little woman has worked two shifts in the cookie booths.  She had 60 boxes added to her total sales.  I think she liked doing it.  We haven't had a talk about it yet, but we watched her for the last ten minutes of her shift today.  And she kept asking people to buy cookies and was selling cookies.
The total cookies sold this weekend was less than last weekend.  There was a snafu and one of the original sites was overbooked.  So they had to set up at one store, then tear down and rush to the other store for the other shift.  Hopefully next weekend goes smoother in that respect.
I guess one customer actually bought the little woman a box of cookies.  So she shared some with her brother.  It was one of the flavors that we couldn't get to sell individually.  That particular flavor was available for the booths though.  Go figure.

Cookies

So the deal with the cookies is all the cookies we check out we must sell.  And what we can't sell we buy.  Well  I'm not down with buying a ton of cookies.  So we requested 25 boxes on top of what we sold online via the cookie page.  We can always request more if needed.
We have a small family and I am not allowed to promote anything at work because of ethics clauses being a state employee.  A few of my co-workers did buy cookies from the little woman but I did not sell at work. 
Cookie sales end Mar. 11 and we have started the cookie booths.  The little woman is scheduled for every day her troop has a booth.  This is where she will get most of her sales.  The sales for the day are divided among the girls who worked the booth.
This is the way I had it planned all along.  I'm glad the little woman is not disheartened by the girls who have sold 300 boxes of cookies.  Really those girls are getting a lot of help from their parents.  And that's all right.  We are not in it for the prizes.  We are trying to support our troop and get the required amount alotted per girl to pay for the activities for the year. 
So I had hoped she would be out of cookies by the time she started working the booths and it really didn't look like we were going to get there.  We had 15 boxes left of our original 25 extra.  Made a comment to the little woman when I picked her up at daycare and Miss Christie heard us and said hey.  We sent her the link and she bought ten boxes.  Six of those came out of our remaining and then I had to get more from the troop leader.  We didn't have enough of the kinds she ordered.  That helped.  Then we hit up our neighbor last night and he has promised to buy two boxes.  He suggested we hit up Renee across the street. But we waited until today for that.  Went over and she bought our remaining six boxes (we had bought a box).  And bam.  Done.  Thank you very much. 
The little woman set a personal goal of 50 boxes and she met that.  That is what she sold via her cookie page and her in person sales to neighbors and friends.  Now hopefully she gets more than 150 boxes via the cookies booths.  If the sales last weekend were any indication...it should not be a problem. 

A Realization

Laughing.  Oh my gosh.  I am just so excited.  The new siding is scheduled for the first week in March.  Which means there are only two weekends until it is time.  Great.  And then I thought about what that means.  They will be taking the old siding off.  Well one of those sides being dismantled is the long garage wall and there is nothing between siding and inside. 
That means that I need to move all the stuff I have stacked along that wall away from the wall.  And of course there is nothing else going on that I can devote a lot of time to that.  ;p  And it is so warm outside now.  If not one thing it is always another. 
Looking on the bright side.....the garage will get cleaned up again and there will be new siding that critters can't chew through. 

Just a Little Nap

I am a nap person.  Probably because I don't sleep well at night.  Anyway.....school was delayed three hours today.  So the morning was not according to plan.  But finally they went to school and I got my peace and quiet. 
Went to see Mom and take her some money so she can get her hair cut tomorrow.  Her new debit card had come in the mail also so I took that too.  She bought some more girl scout cookies. 
And then I went home and had a sweet nap.  Ahhh.  Made the rest of the day just better.  The rest of my agenda for the day fell by the wayside and that is all right.  I needed the nap.

Work Day

The littles got another snow day.  But I got to go to work.  Thank goodness for daycare.  So I got some peace and quiet time at work while I counted things.  We had a return that was ready but it needed to go to Canada.  That is not as straight forward as local.  So Liz had to look up how to do it.  And we were almost done when it wanted a tariff number.  She spent almost an hour trying to find that number.  And while she did that, I just kept counting things. 
Books are slowly starting to trickle in.  She thought a pallet was coming today, but they called and it will be arriving tomorrow.  Gear up for spring is nothing like gear up for fall so I'm sure we will be fine. 
The littles had a good day at daycare.  The little man's normal cohorts weren't there today but he still found buddies to play with.  He always does. 

Peace and Quiet

I was oh so looking forward to a day of peace and quiet after our four days of super togetherness.  I had my day planned out while they were in school.  Ha.  Mother Nature had other ideas.  It was snowing when we woke up and it continued most of the day.
Both kids went out in the morning to play in it.  She must have gotten cold because she spent the rest of the day inside.  The little man ventured out again in the afternoon and had a snowball fight with the neighbor boys.  He was so happy and red cheeked.
Maybe I will have my peace and quiet day on Thursday.  And just think.....I got all the laundry done today so I won't have it on my list for Thursday.  :P

Home

We again had a mid morning flight.  The shuttle came at 6:30 so it was another early morning. We had a little breakfast/snack on the floor of the airport. This time on the plane we all sat together.  The little woman would have preferred to sit with someone else.  C'est la vie.
Home safe and sound.
My thoughts on Disneyland.  It was a wonderful experience and one I'm sure we will always remember.  The first day was the best day.  I was very much enraptured by all of it.  Everything was clean and bright like it had just been painted.  There were employees everywhere doing what ever they could to make sure every one had a great time.
The second day was a little less thrilling.  The park was pretty busy....afterall it was a weekend.  And I can't imagine being there when it was any busier.  We were a little tired of the crowds.  It was well worth the trip.  The littles were amazed and awe struck.  They enjoyed meeting those characters.  They enjoyed the rides.  It was a great activity, but not one that I am likely to ever do again.  They might when they grow up and become parents themselves. 
Big thanks for my benefactors.  The advice was great, the card was great, the envelop was great, and the littles got to spend the last of their Christmas money so we were all happy.   

Disneyland Day Two

We waited until the 9:30 shuttle.  When we got there we went across the street to the Denny's and had a real breakfast.  Then it was in and to it.  Our goal was to ride those cars at Autotopia.  So we headed over there and got in line.  It moved pretty quickly though.  The little man wanted to drive so we let him. 
After that we found a face painter.  We were told yesterday that they were all over, but we never saw them.  So each kid got to pick out what they wanted on their faces.  She has a sunset and his is Boba-fet.
We continued on and did some things we didn't get done yesterday.  We rode the big paddle boat.  They opted to climb the stairs up to Tarzan's tree house again today. 
At some point we realized I had lost the little man's ears and she lost her Tinkerbell key chain and the blanked that went with her baby kitten.  We went to lost and found and did not find them.  :(
But then we met Cruella Deville and everyone forgot what their troubles were.  The gal doing that character was so funny and good. 
One of our meal breaks we saw this duck and it flew up on the umbrella and just hung there for a bit.  I think he was looking for handouts.  I can say I have never seen a duck up on an umbrella before. 
And then we were tired.  There was a shop across the street I wanted to check out.  I bought a couple of gifts and a t-shirt for me.  And naturally the littles picked stuff also.  And then we realized it was still 40 minutes till the shuttle. 
We opted to walk back and stopped at Tru Grits again for dinner.  Then back to the hotel and some more time in the pool.
We did remember to call Mommy and wish her a happy birthday. 

Disneyland

We got up with the alarm and let me tell you they were ready in a flash.  We managed to miss the first shuttle, but that allowed us time to have a little bit to eat at the hotel.  The shuttle came back and we were off.  Disneyland was like two blocks from where we stayed. 
Once there we had to get in line (the story of the day) to have our backpack and my purse checked.  Naturally we were fine.  We picked up a map and the littles perused it.  I just knew that first thing was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  They loved it.  Then we had to go do the carousel and that was the end of my plan for the two days.  We did many rides but no big ones.  The one big one we briefly got in line for until we found out the lines was 75 minutes out.
We met characters.  The gal who was Snow White did a fantastic job. She even sounded like the character does in the movie.  Once we were tired of rides and just tired in general we mosied on back towards Main Street to find some souvenirs.  The little woman got ears with a veil and a baby kitten that has a blanket.  The little man got ears, just plain black one, and a Star Wars stick.  And they were happy. 
We waited for the shuttle to take us back to the hotel.  It took two trips to get all the people returning.  And then we were hungry again.  Feeling like we had spent an awful lot at Disneyland we opted for McDonald's again.  We just didn't feel like walking to it and back.  So we had our first LYFT and it was great.  We walked back after eating and crashed for the night. 

And We Roll

Five o'clock came really quickly.  Amazingly enough the littles were up and at them, ready to go.  So we drove to the airport and were blessed with light traffic.  The flight down to LA took about two hours.  The little woman was seated by herself a few rows ahead of us.  She loved that.  

Once we were on the ground, we found the shuttles stops.  I had purchased round trip vouchers for the shuttle.  I did not want to drive in LA.  The driver made good time, but then told me at the end that they don't usually accept vouchers.  Hmmm.  He also took my vouchers and told me to print more.  What was interesting is he was only charging me $51 for the ride from airport to hotel.  

Since we didn't have a car we were in walk mode.  So we found a McDonald's and they littles played in the play place.  

Later we hit the pool and the hot tub.  The pool was cold.  Not totally cold, but now warm enough for me to get in it.  But they enjoyed it a lot.  One of the highlights of our vacation.  

We found a restaurant in a hotel on the next block.  Tru Grits was very nice.  I had made a reservation but I really didn't need to.  I was happy the food was good, the walk was short and the price was excellent. 

Book Returns

My book returns are done except for one.  I think there were more this quarter than last.  Maybe it just felt that way because I did it all on short shifts.  Sometimes I work longer shifts when it is returns.  Anyway....two pallets and a bunch of boxes.
And then there is that lonely little return sitting there waiting for permission.  I don't understand why I always have to email three times and call a couple of times to get that last one, and it's always the same last one, done. 
Anyway it looks like we have a small little tiny lull before the new books start coming in.  I love a five day weekend and a two day work week. 
And now we play.

Valentine's Day

All of the littles' Valentines got chocolate kisses attached to them.  They all made it to school unharmed and uneaten.  When the littles returned home I was amazed at all the trinkets they had.  Stickers, a heart box, candy and a pencil.  The little woman informed me the pencil was to do her homework with at home.  Cool.
Then Daddy called to wish them a Happy Valentine's Day.  I know he doesn't have a lot to distract him, but I'm impressed how much he remembers and takes the time to call them.  It's not just birthdays and Christmas.  He calls for all holidays and he calls to see how school is going and how activities are going.  He calls and just talks to them.  And sometimes they have short conversations and sometimes they have long conversations. 
Then it was on to Girl Scouts.  They made stuffed animals.  So the little woman came home with a stuffed sheep princess.  She enjoyed it.  And they also had a little celebration for Valentine's Day. 
All in all I think they had a good day. 

Snow

We awoke to snow.  I use my phone as a night light to get to the kitchen.  Looked at it and told the little man my phone was snowing.  Snowing? It was beautiful yesterday not a hint that it was going to snow. Sure enough there was snow on the ground and a message on the machine from school.
School is two hours late.  Kind of cuts into my free day, but it is what it is.  I may still have time to go have lunch with Mom.

Rabbit Movie

The littles and I went and saw the rabbit movie tonight.  Oh my gosh.  It was so funny. There were a couple of things that were meant to go over the heads of little people.  We all enjoyed it.  The little woman kept showing her empathy when "bad" things would happen to the rabbits.  The little man just sat there enthralled with it.  The little woman was a bit more restless.  Maybe because she knew the story line from having done the play about Peter Rabbit.  

Rebecca was suppose to go with us, but she begged off.  Said she had helped all day with her grandkids and she had overdone it.  Okay then.  I lucked out and Cinetopia gave me my money back for her ticket.  All's well that ends well.  

Busy Week

Whew.  It is a busy week ahead.  I only work three days and the littles only go to school for four days.
We bought tickets to cheap Tuesday to see the rabbit movie.  We invited Rebecca to go along with us.  The little man asked if she was part of our family the other day.  I explained about her being Uncle Pat's roommate.  He kind of got sad.  So I asked him if he wanted her to be part of his family and he said yes.  She gives the best hugs.  And so it is. 
Valentines Day is Wednesday and the littles need to finish up their Valentines for school.  The little man did finally get his box done but is resisting taking it to school.  I have no idea what is up with that. 
The little woman has girl scouts this week which includes a party for Valentines Day, 
We are just busy.  And then poor Aunt Traci wanted to come down and babysit one day.  And we just don't have a day to do that.  ;(

Frustration

Oy.  So Disneyland has raised their prices to get in.  By quite a bit.  Something that was almost $300 for us to get in jumped to  $400.  That meant it was time for me to get a bit more serious about trying to find tickets in advance that may be cheaper. 
So I did the search and did the search.  There are lots of sites out there, but I need a reputable one.  We aren't talking a small expenditure.  So I found one I had been on before.  Check to see if it was a good site or not and it was. 
We have been planning on one for sure day at Disneyland and then seeing if we needed another day or a day of relaxation.  But since I was searching and found what feels like a good deal to me we are going for two days. 
In the midst of all this searching and browsing I have been reading hints and one of the hints is to make reservation for food.  So I found an interesting one for breakfast.  But I thought perhaps I should check to see if our hotel has a continental breakfast first.  And then the fun began.  I could not find any email giving me trip details.  I went back to the website I originally booked the trip through and it was not there.  Checked my credit card and I definitely paid for it.  Time to call. 
I called and was told since I ended up with a package it would be listed on the expedia.com site.  So then I called expedia because it wasn't listed there either. They said nope...I needed to go back to the first site.  Did that and again was told they really couldn't help me.  Well I'm getting pretty frustrated by this point.  I know which day we fly.  I know what airline we fly.  I don't remember what time we fly.  I know which hotel we are staying at, but I don't know the name of the shuttle company.  Finally they decided to help me.  The guy promised to email me all the details.  Well they never came, but I found a place that allowed me to put in my email address and this time it came up.
So I was able to download all the information and get it printed off including those all important vouchers for the shuttle.  Whew.  So we are set.  And no I never got food reservations made.  I'm sure we will be fine and find places to eat.  We just won't get to have the character breakfast.  But we should see lots of characters anyway. 
Thanks Leo for the push to get things more confirmed. 

A Nice Visit

Mike called this morning.  He had been moved from Eastern Washington to Larch.  And he wanted to see his kids.
So after we picked up cookies and the little man, got gas, and got lunch, we headed on up.  Took about half an hour.  Shortest travel time and shortest check in time.  We were in in ten minutes.
The littles had a nice visit.  The little man insisted that he needed to play games and so he picked out three different ones to play with Daddy.  And they did.
We had some snacks out of the vending machines.  The only disappointment was the card I had from the last place doesn't work at this place.  So now I have to figure out how to get my money back off that card.  Can't just let $35 go.
Now that Daddy is closer we will see him more.  We are committed to once a month anyway.

Quiet Night

The little man went to spend the night with Uncle Pat so they could play video games.  That left the little woman and I alone for girl time.  We went to Target and used my gift card from Chad and Gina (thanks again guys).  I picked up a few games to add to our game closet.  And I got the cat puzzle that I have been trying forever to convince one of them to pick when we have been shopping.  They always say no.
Then we hit the drive thru and came home to veg in front of the TV.  It is so quiet. It is so nice.  I notice that the cat puzzle that no one wanted is being played with.  Funny that. 

Hair

Somewhere I had read about people just going up and touching black people's hair.  Now when I read it, my first thought is that is not a thing.  There is no way people do that.  I can't fathom it at all. 
So last week there was an article in the college newspaper about black history month.  And one of the things that came up in the article is this hair thing.  With a bit more information.  I'm still just flabbergasted. 
I had an opportunity to make a delivery to Rashida and I asked her.  She had been interviewed for the article in the paper.  And she confirmed that it happens often. I told her I was so sorry that that kind of thing ever happens and that it is horrifying to me.  And yes, I know there are many many things worse in this world that are horrifying.  But this touched me to my core.  I would never touch someones hair (littles are the exception) without permission and I'm not going to ask.  I don't want anyone just coming up and touching any part of me and so I felt the invasion of what that would be like.  Just once is an invasion.....I don't have a word for it when it keeps recurring and recurring and recurring. 
Rashida was gracious about my nosey question.  And she said that wow people really do read the college newspaper. 

The Patch

It was the joyful day of going to the doctor.  Actually I saw a nurse practitioner and that was fine.  I was only there to get the motion sickness patch.  She thought I meant Dramamine and that I could get that over the counter.  Yes, you can get Dramamine over the counter.  So she looked it up and found it and was surprised.  They prescribe this medicine to stroke victims as it dries out the mouth.  Then she was pretty sure my insurance wouldn't cover it.  I didn't care.  It is why I was there and I was getting my prescription.  I've been around the motion sickness rodeo my whole life.  So it was sent to the pharmacy and I may not have to pay for it.  And even if I do, it isn't very expensive.
So I went to the doctor last, last year for my toe.  Before that I went in 2012 when I was in the accident that totaled my truck.  Before that was at least a decade before.  I just don't go.  I have to have a reason.  I've never felt sick enough to need to go.  I've never been worried about anything that compelled me to go. And I know all about preventive health care.
They did not know what to make of me.  No, I don't want a PAP, no I really don't want a mammogram (they gave me a referral anyway).  No I don't want a colonoscopy (they gave me another little test to check for blood and we can go from there....new). No don't want a flu shot...I had the flu.  No, I don't want a tetanus shot. They did take four vials of blood.  The littles loved my yellow tape and the hole where the needle had gone.
Because I don't go often, I always have to go through all the history and all the questions and all the No's. And all of that just keeps me at home unless I need to go.  But now once again I am established somewhere. And I have my prescription.  And now maybe I'm good for a good long while again.  ;p

Donuts

Yes, I was bribing the littles.  And it worked.  If they got dressed and ready quickly we would have time to stop and get donuts before school.  Walmart is the only thing between our house and school so that is where we went so we would have enough time to eat the donuts.  I ran in and got a maple bar and a chocolate bar. 
Gave them to the kids and started to go.  The little man wanted to know what was in the middle of his maple bar.  I told him nothing and then he showed me.  It had a whipped cream filling.  Yuck.  So did the little woman's chocolate bar.  I apologized and took them to school with the promise of the going to the donut factory after school.
After I dropped them I went back to Walmart to see how I did so badly.  There was no way to tell those particular donuts had filling.  So I asked one of the bakers.  Oh yes they always fill theirs.  There is no way to put any kind of sign that lets people know they aren't really maple bars or chocolate bars and no they don't sell plain ones. 
Went back out to the car, looked at the donuts and took them back inside and asked for my money back.  That is ridiculous and I bet I am not the only person who thought they were getting something normal.  No problem getting my money back and I noticed the cashier stapled up the donuts.....bet they aren't going immediately to the trash, but somewhere else first. 
After school I took the kids to Krispy Kreme and they watched the donuts being made.  The little woman got a chocolate bar and the little man got a maple bar and they were again both happy. 

Disney Money

So the little man does not seem to grasp saving money for Disneyland when it is something he wants.  He is kind of like his dad and thinks my money grows on trees.  But yesterday I went grocery shopping and when he got home he told me I needed to quit shopping....we need money for Disneyland.  My response was that we also need to eat in the meantime. 
The little woman is taking a different tact.  She lost a tooth this weekend.  The tooth fairy came and brought her a dollar.  She handed me the dollar and told me to put it with the Disney money.  What a wonderfully thoughtful thing.  And so I will put it with her personal Disney money. 

Free Time

I had the day off of work, but the littles had to go to school.  Yay!  Some free time.  I actually managed to do a little extra cleaning.  Then I hit the grocery store by myself.  I love the grocery store by myself.  I haven't quite figured out yet if I save money or not, but it's quiet. 
After I put most of the groceries away I took a nap.  A wonderful nap. 
Rebecca and I had lunch plans, but she forgot and made another plan.  Here is hoping that isn't a usual occurrence. 
Tomorrow is back to work and real work.  We are doing returns this week.  :)

A Blessed Reminder

I was reminded how blessed we are.  The littles and I have each other and it is the greatest blessing.  In their short lives they have lost a lot of people in their every day life.  They had nothing to do with those choices that made that so.  I had nothing to do with those choices that made it so. I made a choice when they were born to always be here if possible.
So we have days where all kinds of emotions come to the surface.  Sometimes I don't put two and two together.  The little man has been a bit angry lately.  The anger or frustration for him come from very minor things.  At least minor in the whole scheme of life.  Maybe not minor in his life.  I had not put those moments together with how he is feeling about his new brother.  The one who gets to live with Mommy.  We have had questions lately about the why of it all.  And he has a basic understanding of how he came to be with me.  A very small basic understanding.  And he understands that some things are different for Mommy and that is why Jazzlynn lives with her and not us (thank goodness).  And that means Niklaus can live with Mommy also.  He doesn't know that Mommy still makes choices that keep her out of his life mostly.  Someday he will and that will be a whole other understanding.
We've also been talking about Papa and his death.  And how Papa made choices that caused that to happen earlier than it had to.  A lot of loss of important people because they made different choices.
So today I take a deep breath and let it all out....and again...and again...and again.  His anger is hard and it creates a reaction in me.  And I am working hard on keeping it in check.  He is just a little boy learning how to navigate his way through this life.  But we have each other.  And we love each other.  We are blessed.   

Play Day

The littles wanted to do to the duck ponds and hide rocks.  So we did that.  There was a man feeding the ducks and there were so many.  A lot more wood ducks this time and some Canadian Geese.  Each kid found three rocks.  It was good to get moving and doing that again.  I don't know if that means we are back full swing or whether it was a fluky day.
Then we went and had a late lunch/early dinner at Shari's.  Then they begged to go to a park.  So we hit up the dog park in Hockinson.  There were many other kids playing so they just jumped right in.  The only time they stopped was to meet dogs. 
It was a good afternoon with lot of outdoor play time.  A good thing. 

Why Did Papa Die?

Driving home and the little man pops up with he wishes Papa didn't die.  I agreed with him and then he again asked why.  And as we get older we get better explanations.  So I told him Papa drank too much alcohol and his liver couldn't process it and it quit working.  Then we talked about what the liver does.  His next response is that he wishes he would have told Papa not to drink so his liver would keep working.  Oh little man.  If only it would have been that easy. 
Some days my heart breaks harder than other days. 

Another Brother

I had some extra time today so I stopped in and saw Mom.  I told her about Leo contacting me and telling her everything I thought she would be interested in.  It was all news to her.  She is happy she has another brother.  She does not remember that she already had contact with Leo a long time ago.  I was not surprised about that since sometimes I'm pretty sure it is the 80's for her.  And I just left it how she feels it today.  Yup.  She has another brother. 

Day One

This morning I put up hearts on the doors of the littles's bedrooms.  The object is to do one each day through Valentines Day.  On his it says "You are funny," and hers says "You are smart."  They are just little affirmations to start off a good day. 
So the little man sees hers first and gets a bit indignant because he doesn't have one.  And at this point he has no clue what is wrote on it.  Well she goes to look and I ask him if he is sure he doesn't have one on his door.  She reads them to him even though I'm sure he could read his own all by himself.  And they both were very happy.  I wonder what she thought when he told her she was smarter than he is. 
It was a good morning.  Hoping tomorrow is just as good.  Especially since it is the last early morning for a bit. 

Found Family

Leo is my mom's brother.  They had some contact over twenty years ago.  Mom had contacted her birth father.  There were plans for Sr. to come out to CA for some reason and when that happened Mom was going to meet him.  I'm sure that was a plan filled with lots of emotions. 
My mom had wondered about the man basically all her life.  Her mom had went to her death keeping the secret of who he was.  I do not know why, just that it was.  The other people, who also knew who he was, kept that secret for a long long time after Granny died.  And then Uncle John finally told her. 
At least she did have some contact.  I doubt all her questions would have been able to be answered.  She had contact with his other children, a son and a daughter.  I'm not sure how much joy that brought as I doubt they had any inkling about her.  But it is what it is and life moves on.  Leo Sr. died.  And with that the connections. 

I met my half sister when I was sixteen.  I was told about her when I was 13 years-old.  She had initiated contact with our dad.  My mom kind of pushed my dad to accept that contact.  He may have anyway, but Mom came from the place my sister was at.  Meeting a sibling like that is filled with a lot of emotions. 
We met and started building relationships.  Almost a decade in my dad died.  And that initial link wasn't totally severed but it was definitely stretched thin.  Today we are good, but we had to find the place that we could build from.  Dad couldn't be the glue if he wasn't there. 
I do find it ironic how similar the stories are though. 

When I moved into Mom's house and started the cleaning process I found a letter Jr. had wrote to Mom.  And of course, now I have no clue where it is.  But it was a reminder of the connection.  And so I went on a search and found him on facebook.  Mom was sad I didn't actually make a connection right away.  And now she has long forgotten that I tried.  Looking forward to telling her about it and I hope it makes her smile.  Life does move on and life throws curve balls.  Maybe this is a good one.