Covid, the gift that keeps giving............

 

Well my friends my sweet, darling boy has passed on his Covid germs.  Believe me when I tell you he was coughing and snotty all of two hours Sunday morning when he tested positive.  Other than not having a great appetite, which could be my cooking, and sleeping a little longer than usually he is just about perfect. Me, well not so much. 

I started to feel a bit peaked on Monday evening, nothing bad just a thought of not feeling well, I tested myself and I was negative.  Tuesday morning was beautiful out and I felt okay, not great but okay and I tested negative again so I took a boy with wiggles to the beach very early in the morning, far, far away from others.  Those ladies in the photo look near us but they were at least 15 feet away, up a small sand hill and upwind of us.  All our germs were blowing out to sea. We spent most of the time in the water and then headed home before anyone could come close to us.  It was a success except it takes a lot of work to get Little Buddy into and out of the water, but by the time I was getting him out he was leaning on me and I had to help hold him up I was feeling weak.  After a return trip home, we now live about 15 minutes away, we had a bath and shower, lunch and some reading and then I was ready for a nap.  I never nap, like never, but it felt so good to just lie down and rest. Meanwhile one little boy was happy to get on his computer early and let me be.

I am officially positive now and the little one who brought it into the house is feeling just fine, well that is except when he gets tired of reading Harry Potter and fake coughs. 

I have loved being home.  I have said many times I work so much I would just love to be home more, wish granted I'd say.  I love spending time with my special boy.  We are writing a book this summer and are already on chapter 24. The book is all about made up rescues and adventures, he has difficulty writing anything that is not factual so I have been really impressed how he has blossomed in this area this summer.  Plus typing is a skill he will need to be proficient at so he is typing every chapter.  We had a drawing contest the last two days and I have shared with you his picture of me just in case you have forgotten what I look like.  We take turns picking something to draw, he has a hard time making decisions so this is good for him. I have been graded, 0% F on every drawing I make while a little boy I know gives himself 100% A.

We have been reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  He is new to this series, a gift for his birthday from me.  He started them with his speech and language pathologist so she gets a video summary of each chapter after we read it so she is up to date on what is happening.  

The beach has been great therapy-wise, swimming, running and walking upright in the water, and just some good sunshine and vitamin D.  We won't be back for a while, I am just to darn tired. Actually I am so tired knitting, reading and even watching a show seems hard but I am fortunate I know.  Yes, I have a stuffy, runny nose and a bit of a cough, a frog in my voice and a headache but I am thankful it isn't worse.  Thankful I am in this wonderful house where I feel healing is coming faster.  I am thankful for vaccines that we have both had that have greatly reduced our illness.  I am grateful for special time together unfolding at a really lovely pace.  I have completed all my continuing education for my professional license, that was before I felt really poorly of course.  I have ordered school supplies and school uniforms. I got myself  out of jury duty due to my special needs son, I made him out to sound much worse than he is, don't tell on me, and I have worked out special behavioral services for Little Buddy if he indeed goes to the special learning school.  See lots of things accomplished so now I can just rest.

Covid is everywhere, I am lucky we are going through it at the same time and before school starts. So much to be thankful for even when I feel like a helium balloon slowly losing air and sinking from the ceiling to hover just above the floor.

The flowers are from my giant crepe myrtle tree, milkweed in my garden and lovely purple flowers on three big bushes out back. 

Stay safe my friends. Mask up and stay safe.

Catching up.............

 

Hello!  How are all of you doing?  Here is a bit of a catch up with things around here in no particular order as my photos seem to load just the way they want, not the way I want.

Work has been mixed for me.  Lots of families out with Covid, last week I missed an entire day due to that.  It rained that whole day and Little Buddy and I enjoyed a day at home, me puttering and cleaning, him in his pajamas watching shows, playing, reading and all that.  It was really nice, I think just what I needed.  This week lots more out but I never seemed to be able to make my schedule work so I had an afternoon off. My little ones have been crazy, I have lost a bit of my patience, is it the heat?  Are we all sick of summer?  Do we need a better routine with school starting soon?  Was it a full moon?  Who knows but it has been a bit rough for all of us.

Little Buddy got exposed again at camp.  I can't tell you how many times this child has been exposed to Covid by sustained close contact. Seems two of the teachers got it and one child.  He had a stuffy nose at the beach so I tested him when we got home, no Covid maybe just too much salt water.  Camp might be canceled for the week, I am still waiting to hear.

Little Buddy and I finally made it to the beach. I work so much that time is limited and on Friday when I am off there are important errands to run or appointments to keep.  Saturdays have been rainy, he is not easy to get on or off the beach, we can't run off if it starts to storm so we can only go on brilliantly clear days.  Yesterday was just such a day.  We were there by 8:30, played in the sand and then the water for over an hour.  Little Buddy had the best time.  He swam and swam, threw big rocks at me and walked and almost ran in the water.  I miss our pool where he did so much therapy during the summer.  Two hours was just enough for him, we headed home for a bath and some relaxing time because he told me he just needed to relax all day. 

The boys had haircuts last weekend and boy did they need them.  Hank is once again losing his hair on top of his head.  We went to the vet on Friday and she doesn't seem to know what is going on.  And he is licking incessantly, I mean it is driving me crazy so she gave him a shot for that.  I have not seen much improvement yet.  His food has not changed which was the reason last time this happened.  I am now going to try a chicken/rice blend and get off the fish blend.  It just might be he can't tolerate that anymore.  They were both so stressed with the move, but we have been here almost three months so they should be settled in by now.  We also have different grass here, might be a whole combination of things.  If they could only talk and tell us what they need!

And Luna my grand dog spent the night last night with her new collar on. She is not , how can I say it without being offensive, well she is not a real feminine girl, so the collar makes me laugh.  She is a big tomboy and rules the roost when she is here, so the pink bow collar just makes me smile.

Have a wonderful week.

Update:  A cute little boy just woke up not feeling well.  He has tested positive for Covid so we are hunkering down for the week.  I have to cancel all my patients, yikes!  Hopefully he will recover quickly.  Stay safe.

This and that in no particular order................

                   

So much going on but nothing of any real importance.  Little Buddy continues to grow and thrive, what could be more rewarding than that?  He has his quirks, like separating M&M's by color before eating them, but don't we all have something?

He has had a very fun week.  Last weekend the Fourth of July was celebrated here in this neighborhood for several nights of close and loud fireworks, I had a buddy in bed with me as he doesn't like loud noises.  Actually I had three dogs, and a little boy in bed with me, lets just say no one got much sleep.  I found one exploded firework on my grass and one on my roof, my brand new roof.  I told you they were close. 

Last weekend was also my birthday.  We went to the Clearwater Aquarium with a friend of mine who has season passes.  It is good she did as it was very hot and one little boy I know was not very interested in the dolphins, rescued sea turtles or otters.  He was much more impressed with the elevators.  We did see a virtual short movie about humpback whales.  You can see him with his head gear on reaching out to touch the whale.  We only stayed an hour.  Clearwater Aquarium was made famous by Winter the dolphin who was caught in a crab trap and had to have his tail amputated.  He was rehabilitated with a prosthetic tail and lived many years helping children and adult amputees.  Sadly he caught a viral infection early this year and passed away.  You may have seen the movie, A Dolphin's Tail, which is a very, very loose interpretation of the real events.  At the end of the movie they have the real portion of the story, showing the rescue, rehabilitation and the people who worked so hard to get that tail right.  That is the fascinating part.

Dad was away this week so I had to scramble for childcare help.  My babysitter had Covid the week before and was not feeling great, and I also leave at 6:30 in the morning which is a deterrent for almost anyone.  So Little Buddy came to work with me on Tuesday, not my full day but to two houses that are super kid friendly.  He got to hold a baby I work with and was delighted.  He could not understand how this baby could be three, or that he can't see.  He also got to go to the house he was in straight out of the hospital.  He loves his first family and they adore him.  He got to play with the girls I work with and see the preemie twins that are now there in foster care that I work with as well.  He went swimming and had the best time.

That night he was driven up to my friend Lynda's house were he spent two nights and a very long day.  She has a ten year old neighbor who came to play which was so wonderful for Little Buddy.  He doesn't have friends that come over, only those at school or camp so this was extra special.

Little Buddy loves fish so I made salmon for the very first time last weekend.  He loved it, so it is on the menu for dinner again tonight.  I need to start upping my game in the cooking department, my old regular meals are just that, old and regular.

My son sent me flowers yesterday as a late birthday present.  He was out of town visiting a friend on my birthday and got wrapped up in things with his buddy.  I got a really late text from him wishing me a good day.  I know boys are different but this hurt my feelings a bit.  I don't expect a party, dinner or presents, just a simple birthday text is all.   Actually several other good friends and even my dear niece forgot my day. This has been a rough year as you know so understand I know I am being over sensitive.  So flowers were ordered to help lift my spirits and they did.  

The news continues to depress me.  A 10 year old pregnant after being raped by her father had to go out of state for help, thank God she could go out of state, that will not be an option for many, and a judge should never tell a ten year old that she should consider this an, "Opportunity".  Ten year old girls should be watching Disney shows and playing with LOL dolls, not preparing to have a child.  A child that frankly their body may not even be prepared to hold or give birth to without serious physical repercussions. Hasn't she already been traumatized enough by her very own father raping her? Shootings at a parade killing innocent people and children, shootings everywhere killing innocent people and children, it is all so overwhelming, but I make myself know about it all because it is a privilege to bury your head in the sand and pretend all is well, it is a privilege to go about your life because it doesn't affect you. And that is dangerous, pretending all is well and you can't do anything about it all just lets all of this keep going on and getting worse.  I know you can't sit in a deep depression about it but you still have to have an awareness of what this country has turned into. Without awareness there will be no change.

Stay safe my friends, those I know who have had Covid recently have been pretty sick. Stay safe. 

The way I see it...............

 

While I wanted to celebrate a very special birthday yesterday the day was overshadowed by the news that over 50% of the population in the United States have had the right to make decisions over their own body and health taken away.  I will forever remember this day with this news, not that Little Buddy turned 11, but this horrific news.

Pro Choice or Pro Life are interesting terms to me.  I am very much pro life and at the same time I am emphatically, without a doubt, pro choice.  I see a side of this that many of you don't.  A side that is going to grow and grow and create more and more problems for our society.  I don't understand how you can be pro life but believe that assault rifles have a place in our society.  We can protect a bundle of cells with no viability but children can get mowed down with their heads severed in school because it is our right to buy assault rifles.  

I am pro life because I believe that all children should be cared for with Universal Healthcare instead of having services stripped away.  I see the children whose parents can't afford healthcare or even food.  One family I know fed their child carrot water because they could not afford formula, obviously this boy will have developmental and intellectual issues the rest of his life due to malnutrition, he is suffering every day.   There  will be more of this to come, a lot more, yet we are forcing women to have babies that they know they cannot take care of financially, physically, mentally or emotionally.  Babies they can't even feed or afford diapers for.  Our system even wants to reduce school lunches, sometimes the only real food a child gets all day. Can you imagine what will happen to all these babies as they grow up without proper nutrition?

I am pro life and I believe in supporting children, and their mothers, no matter their age, with good mental health services.  Those services are also being cut, everywhere.  Can you imagine a 12 year old being raped by a family member and having to carry a child to term?   Giving birth to her brother?  Her sister? Her niece or nephew?  Trauma based care is so hard to get with the lack of services available, the lack of good mental health professionals that get paid a fraction of their worth.  How is this child going to ever survive this on top of the abuse she has already suffered?  How is her child, who will most assuredly be significantly delayed for the rest of its life, how does this child make it?  Where will the money come from for services to help this little one?

I am pro life but I think having to carry a child to term at the expense of your own physical health is so ridiculous I can barely comprehend it.  How many women are going to leave their children motherless because a bunch of non viable cells or a child that will never live outside her womb are more important then the physical children she already has.  She will leave this earth and leave her children without a mother due to no decision of her own.

I am pro life and I cannot fathom why we are forcing more children into this world with no thought to climate change and the affects climate issues have on our ability to feed these babies with safe foods, clean water and temperatures that they can tolerate.  How can a mother provide for this baby with rents skyrocketing and no childcare benefits?  

In the world where we in the United Sates are so ranked so high as far as infant and mother mortality, how is this situation going to improve that?  It is all going to become much, much worse.  Women will die, their babies will die.  Are you ready for that?

I am pro life but I see the children who have been thrown up against walls so hard their retinas burst.  They are physically abused so bad they sometimes don't even make it, and when they do they are barely living.  Do you not see how this is going to happen more and more frequently because the choice to have a child was not theirs?

Do you think this affects men?  Absolutely not, it is always going to be the mothers responsibility to raise a child.  Will men have to pay support if they have sex until they know a child has not been created?  Frankly, many of them don't support the children they know they have.  Will men have to have vasectomies at the age they can start having children, what is the 10 or 11 to ensure no one gets pregnant?  And only have it reversed when they become responsible adults?  No, it is always, always going to be the woman/girl/child who has to handle the decisions forced on her.

There are over 100,000 children in foster care, almost 120,000 actually, that number is about to skyrocket.  The system we have in place is already overwhelmed.  Are you going to adopt one of these children? Are you pro life enough to turn your world upside down and bring these troubled and often emotionally and/or physically challenged children into your home?  I can talk this way because I did.  I did bring a child into my home who was exposed to drugs and alcohol on top of all the brain damage he suffered due to the decisions of his birth mother.  He is lucky to have found a home.  Are you willing to provide one?  Many of these kids end up in residential facilities or group homes with no real family, or are often abused in the very homes they were placed in for safety, they then drift out of the system with nothing to help them. The cycle will then repeat itself with the next generation. Get ready my friends, because this is all going to get a lot worse for these babies who will grow up with little support.  Where are your prayers then?  Are they helping these poor children?

I am pro life, I am pro choice, but this has just made my job a whole lot harder.  The numbers of trauma based children, physically challenged children and babies, drug exposed kids, and babies exposed to excess alcohol is about to skyrocket.  Will you be willing to pay more taxes to help these kids get the services they need?  I'm not talking a prayer service or a local diaper drive.  How are you going to dedicate your life to helping these children having children, or the mothers who will suffer emotionally, mentally and often physically to have a child that they were not prepared to have.  

I have already dedicated my life to this, what are you going to do to help besides pray and rejoice that women/girls/children have had a fundamental right taken away from them?  A fundamental right that will be cataclysmic to society as a whole and cataclysmic to the very children you are rejoicing that will be born.  Will you be wanting your daughter, granddaughter, niece or little girl next door to have a baby when she has been raped?  Will you tell her to lay back and enjoy it like one politician has said?

What is next?  Imprisoning women who have had a miscarriage?  Not allowing women  access to birth control? 

Let this sink in, an 18 year old has more rights to buy an assault riffle than a woman/girl or child has making choices and decisions about her own body.

It doesn't stop here, and when your particular fundamental right gets taken away remember this day, June 24, 2022.  This is not when it started but this is when it became a reality. 

A vey involved week................

 

Since my computer got fixed a few weeks ago my Picasa doesn't work so I have to download photos from iCloud, and put them in a folder and submit them here.  No editing, no watermark, which really bums me out but there you have it.  You see everything like my phone camera sees it.

Lots of crazy things have happened this week.  The electricity in Little Buddy's room and my garage went out on Monday.  I knew it was the circuit breaker but did not know how to fix it.  I asked my next door neighbor to assess the situation so I knew what to say when I called someone and he offered to fix it.  He is an interesting guy, quite a bit older than me, loves his motorcycle, lost his wife of 39 years to cancer 6 years ago.  His house is a bit messy, he is always fixing things right out in his driveway. He is a bit scary looking at first glance, but the sweetest man ever.  He went to Home Depot, bought the breaker and put it in.  But the system was still tripping so he called a friend.  His friend came at 9:15 and they started over.  At 10:15 they felt it was still being tripped so had to come in and unplug things to see what happened.  I had two guys I really don't know in my house at 10:15 at night and I wasn't at all concerned.  I figured they were either going to murder me or I had two new guardians, or at least Little Buddy does.  It was all fixed by 10:30 with me promising to contact them if it went out again.  No payment was wanted, just a, "this is what we do, we help people when they need it."  Turns out when we pushed the garage fridge back in place we knocked the old socket off the wall so everything in the freezer went bad. I of course did not know about it until Thursday so you can imagine the mess and clean up duty.  And Little Buddy's ceiling fan did not work after the power went back on, so it ends up I do have to get an electrician after all, but that's okay, it will be nice to have everything safe again.

I missed my headache Botox shots on Thursday because I have shingles yet again.  My fifth time to be exact.  The first time was years ago and it was all over the bottom of my face, neck and chest.  It was missed diagnosed as poison oak so they kept giving me steroids.  It kept getting worse and worse, actually cracking in areas but I just got more steroids.  What I would have given for anti viral medication to make it stop itching, hurting and cracking.  Each time I get it it looks different so I take a while to realize what it is. This time was on the back of my neck and on my head on both sides.  I can't see back there so I had no idea what was going on until way too late.  I thought it was bites, a reaction to new city water, or poison something.  Mine hurt a bit but mostly they itch like the dickens.  My neurologist asked me why I got them so bad, did something happen?  Was I stressed?  I could have manically laughed but held it together.  He is adorable, 37 warm and lovely.  I keep telling him if his mother ever disowns him I will adopt him and I mean it! But no shots mean more headaches until I can get these shingles to disappear.  He did give me nerve pain medication he swears will help, I am crossing my fingers it does. 

Little Buddy had his Botox shots for his tight leg muscles yesterday.  It was good that his computer was delivered yesterday to help him be distracted enough he did not think about them.  Actually it is his biggest brother's computer that he used in college.  He has not used it for several years so when we moved I thought it was a good idea to get it updated and ready for this guy. $300 later it works like a dream and should last him for years.  

We went to the park near us this morning for one very hot hour.  The feel like temp was 105 degrees today so we did not stay long.  It is 3 minutes from our house and is an inclusion playground fit for kids of all different ability levels.  It has been closed for renovation since we moved it.  We spent a very hot hour there and then headed to the grocery store where I had help from a cute little boy who pushed my cart and scanned all my food.  Now if I could just get him to bag things I think he might have a new job!

There has been little knitting this week, way too much emotional ups and downs that continue to wear me out.  I have no reserve anymore so it is not taking much to make me feel depleted.  When I was feeling better last week I made the stone path and the stone border in my backyard.  I have since added the last two flat stepping stones making it a total of 10, and moved those rocks around to fit around the new stones.  It looks better and prevents me from stepping in dirt as I round the corner to my side yard.  The backyard is full of weeds, dirt and a bit of grass.  It needs to be mowed a lot as the weeds have those pieces that cling to dog fur. That was my job early this morning before the heat set in.

That was my week my friends.  I hope yours was better.  Still with all that has happened I am so grateful for my family, my fur boys,  my new home, work and my friends and that includes all of you!

Have a wonderful Father's Day tomorrow if you are celebrating.  I miss my Dad, he would have been a rock for me and helped me get through all this mess. 

Knitting and life in general..............

 

There has been some knitting as I have traveled these rough times.  I think there was a cardigan I forgot to take photos of that I finished.  And now my new obsession is this super simple scarf made by Diane Augustin of Yarn Happy-Bead Happy.  It is the Easiest Scarf and it is a free pattern.  I have noticed this scarf for years in the door of my local yarn shop.  The colors of the self striping yarn were so vibrant and it looked so simple.  When I was going to visit the store and everything was 30% off because they were closing I went a bit crazy with yarn for sweaters and yarn for this scarf.  The scarf yarn price on sale was a smidge over $10 which I think is a huge deal.  Especially when you have oodles of teacher and therapist gifts to make now and in the future.  I made four scarves for end of the year teacher and assistant presents, plus one for Little Buddy's principal.  She has been such a cheerleader for him all these years and really has an amazing group of teachers under her which I think is due to her leadership.  These are so, so easy to make.  There is a two row repeat that even I have not screwed up too many times.  I bought a lot of this yarn, Uneek Cotton, hand dyed self striping yarn.  The hanks are 275 yards and that is all you need to make this scarf, that and size 7 needles. The last scarf is for my friend and realtor Claudia.  She helped me find this beautiful house, held my hand every step of the way through the purchase and all that that entailed.  I have another one in the same colorway on my needles for a dear friend dealing with health issues.  I really don't have to think while knitting these, just let my needles move as I watch episode after episode of Heartland on Netflix.  What a beautiful show, just the horses and the scenery have me hooked. 

Little Buddy is growing up so fast.  I try to pull him on my lap for a snuggle and it is getting harder to wrestle him in place.  He has never been much for snuggles but I still try to get them when I can.  He is going to camp two days a week to help with the non-verbal children and to be a junior counselor.  Not sure he is much help but he sure can talk, and talk, and talk.  I am thankful for his teacher Ms. Lori for inviting him for this great opportunity.  So much has changed in his life these past few months, the stability of camp is good for him.

The boys had their first bath at this house.  I have an area off my screened in porch that is just outside the screen door you can see in the last photo.  It is tiled and I have a wired shelf out there with a few plants that were left here and watering cans and such.  There is a hose there so I decided to give it my best.  One dog at a time with his leash on, getting the spa treatment while the other waited on the other side of the screen nervous they were separated.  Then the wet dog went inside the porch and it was on to number 2!  I was quite pleased with myself that I did it and that I now have two clean boys.  They are a bit like dust mops, they pick up everything from outside then come in and jump on my bed leaving a trail of leaves, grass and mulch.  I have to vacuum everyday. But they are worth every minute of care and clean up because they are so full of love and really help calm me down, well when they aren't feasting on toilet paper because the bathroom door was left open anyway!

It has been a rough week here due to the situation I find myself in so I am signing off. I am emotionally and physically exhausted this week and weekend and need to rest up before my busy week starts.  Take good care my friends, these are just such stressful times in the world, try to take care of yourselves. 

No more sad stories..........

 

No more sad news, onward and upward so they say.  Thank you all for your kind words and support.  It is hard to move forward but there is no other choice, so here we go.

I thought you might like to see the front of my house, it is older, about 43 years and it looks like it from the street, still it is cozy, and lovely and in a very safe place.  I had to get a new roof, and repair many things on the outside and in but that is all okay, less for me to deal with later on.

Little Buddy's room is very cute.  He is using my middle son's bed and dresser.  We brought his cubbies for books and my friend gave him the desk and larger cubbies.  They all fit perfectly.  His other room in my big house was more of an extra media room, it was on the first floor so it was best for this little one who can't navigate stairs really well.  It did not have a closet because it wasn't a bedroom, but now he has a real bedroom.  It is close to the bathroom so that is helpful.  He can even get himself in and out of the tub independently so that is a big step.

While I was not able to bring along much of my furniture I was thrilled to bring along several big pieces that fit beautifully.  I had 12 foot ceilings in the big house, here they might be 8 or under, still things fit and I was able to bring along many family treasures that mean a lot to me.  Claudia got sent a few things and my niece did as well, so not as many things are here for my kids to go through when something happens to me.

The big pine piece in the bedroom used to hold hymnals in a church.  It is big, I mean really big but it fits perfectly.  It holds all my kids photos and special things from when they were growing up.  Another thing they will have to deal with when I am older or gone, but at least now it is all organized. 

Little Buddy is having difficulty with adjusting to everything.  But we are trying to make it work for him and keep him as stable as possible.  Yesterday we got to spend two hours playing a racing game at his biggest brothers apartment.  Oh boy you can see the joy on that face!

Thank you again for all your loving comments and kind thoughts.