Some Thoughts on Another Exciting Morning...

...In the Life of Laura

This morning started out relatively well. If you take morning at its literal sense, I started it in a tub of cold water (which had been quite hot at 11 pm, but strangely enough, not so hot at 1 am) with a book. It's a library book that is due at the end of the month, when we won't be in town, and I don't know if I should wound my former reader pride by renewing it at the library. (I won the flippin' "Who Read the Most Books This Year" contest in sixth grade! It was a blow out. Come on, Laura! You can't even read one stinkin' book in a month?) But, the book is long, and I'm finally at the middle and the action is picking up. It's one of those books that spends far too many pages dealing with lots of navel gazing characters, and you don't really know if you like any of them, or care enough to read about them for over 400 pages. But, now, since I'm over 200 pages in, I have to finish. I really hate not finishing books after I've invested at least a chapter, let alone 200 pages. Now, Moby Dick is another case all together. Try as I might, I can't get into that bad boy. I've picked it up three times, and managed to make it about 100 pages last time. Maybe some day. I think the only reason I really want to read it is because it's mentioned in the awesome movie Heathers and it's where my home away from home, Starbucks, got its name.

Anyway, this morning, Hutton came in at 8:30 to wake me the first time, asking for "breastfast" (that's how he pronounces it, which is funny, because I used to call it that when the boys were breastfeeding) then about every ten minutes after until I finally got up. Before my final waking, I had a dream that I moved into an apartment that had an amazing view of the downtown Seattle skyline, yet also a great view of the Statue of Liberty, which for some reason, was in a little black cove of water in Lake Washington. I was sharing this apartment with two roommates I don't know in real life, but was thinking, wow, this will really make it faster getting to Hutton's ABA appointments at the UW. The roommates morphed into two of my college roommates at one point. The apartment (or was it a condo?) had cathedral ceilings, and one of my roommates had hung piles of books from the ceiling. I asked her how she did it in the dream, but she never told me. Did she rent scaffolding to get up there? I remember looking up and seeing a book with an artist rendering of some wild animal on the cover, and really wanting to read it, and wondering how Eva got it all the way up on those beams, and how they stayed without falling, as some were not even resting on beams. In the last part of the dream, I was going back to my car to get something. I had realized I hadn't locked the door, and, jeez, I'd even left the window open, and when I got there, sure enough, a man was leaning into the front seat, and his friend, or accomplice waiting by the car. In my dream, I became a crazy woman protecting her things, and I ran up and grabbed the man by the throat, even though I was thinking, "This is stupid. This guy or his friend could have a gun." But, as dreams often do, it worked, and I was able to get the guy out of my car, without his stealing my things. Strangely enough, I don't think I'll ever attempt that in real life if two big men are ever really stealing things from my car. I do have impressive "guns" but I don't think I could really grab a man by the throat. My dream self is quite the bad ass!

I finally got up and went downstairs. The pleasant surprise of the morning: Fergus had not peed on the rug at the bottom of the stairs. Well, he couldn't pee there unless he'd jumped the baby gate, which is now keeping him in the laundry room at night. He is not quite as skilled at jumping as he was as a younger dog -- just a few years ago, he'd have cleared a baby gate with no problems. He also hadn't soiled his doggy diaper or dog bed. Yippee! I was feeling better about leaving the dogs here with a petsitter for our trip. If Fergus can go overnight without having an accident, things are looking up! Of course, my love and pride in Fergus, due to his old dog bladder pulling through, were short-lived. Fergus came back into the house a few minutes later with some sort of animal poop on his muzzle, and as I scrubbed off his face with a baby wipe, I realized it was all over his feet as well. He'd been doing some snacking in the cat litter pile outside. After giving him a bath and cursing him out (don't worry - he's deaf now and could only guess that I was pissed at him by the way I sprayed him down with the bathtub sprayer in such an angry manner) I felt a little less angry, and still glad that he hadn't peed in the house last night. Plus, I felt guilty for having let the thought pass through my mind that I wouldn't have to do this much longer.

Then, finally, breakfast. And now, as I type this, still in my pajamas, I realize I have to shower and go to the grocery store, and Hutton's ABA home therapist arrives in an hour and a half. Hmm, I can probably wait on the grocery store. I only need hot dogs (still!) and snacks for our trip. I have a huge zit forming between my eyebrows I have to tackle with the arsenal of products I keep on hand for such occasions, and that will probably take all the time before the therapist arrives. I love going home for the holidays with zits. It makes me feel like I'm in college again!

I'm Still Alive

My cold is officially gone. Yippee! I spent lots of time snoozing on the couch the past week while the boys watched too much TV. Oh well. It's Christmas time! What better time to spoil your children with lack of parenting, right?

Hutton has had ups and downs. Friday, he had a perfect ABA session. Today, not so much. He didn't earn all of his checks (on his chart) and was very upset, then started saying he needed medicine and ate something he shouldn't have. Hmm. I couldn't get him to tell me what he ate that he shouldn't have, though.

Harrison has managed to use the potty instead of his pants today. Yeah! Fergus, the dog, used the rug at the bottom of the stairs instead of going outside, this morning. Booo! I bought him a diaper wrap for dogs, but he managed to wriggle his male dog parts out enough so that he could pee freely on the rug. Oh well. I think we'll need to invest in some new throw rugs in 2008.

We have our big trip to Nashville on Friday. Our first flight this year with the boys. It's a four and a half hour direct flight. Hope the DVDs work their magic! The boys are very excited to see Gogo (my mom). Next week, we'll drive to Pensacola, FL from Nashville to see Hubby's family. Eight hours in the car. Hmm. Again, hope the DVDs work their magic! The boys received some giftcards from my great-aunt and uncle last week that we used to purchase a bunch of DVDs, so we shall see.

Not much else to report. It's raining and cold. I don't feel like cooking. I will be using the out of town trip as an excuse to avoid cooking this week. Oh, I don't want to go to the grocery store and have food left in the fridge. Except...crap! We're out of hot dogs! There goes my fave lazy mother dinner -- gluten and casein free hot dogs for the boys, frozen pizza for me and hubby. Yeah, I'm super mom!

I Have a Cold. Whine, Whine, Whine.

Waaa! Poor me! I am stuffed up of sinus and tired from not sleeping well. I kept an ear out to listen for our old dog, Fergus, needing to go out during the night, and when I was able to sleep, I'd wake up to have to go wipe my nose and go between being sweaty and freezing.

Fergus is 14 and a half. He's been having lots of accidents the past few days, and I'm wondering if I should humiliate him in his old age by making him wear diapers. I mean, it's not as if our carpeting isn't beyond help anyway. What's a few hundred more pee stains to clean? Yesterday I washed two throw rugs, then when those were all fresh and clean, Harrison called out about his socks being wet, and I found another wet spot in the carpet upstairs. Then another a couple of hours later. This morning, at least, Fergus managed to pee in the middle of the wood floor, and didn't get any on the newly washed rug. Amazing! It's not as if I don't let Fergus out several times a day. It's possible he's just lazy and doesn't want to go out in the cold. Sigh. Between that and the "potty trained" Harrison ("No, I don't need to use the bathroom!" Ten minutes later: "No, I didn't pee in my pants. Oh, wait, I did.") I've been doing lots of laundry.

Yawn. Time to go get some more coffee. Or maybe I should be good and drink something hydrating. Hmm. If I can park the boys in front of the TV after lunch, I may be able to take a nap. Still, I have to actually make it to lunch. Decisions, decisions.

The Christmas Card Photo Shoot

This evening, I started a fire in the fireplace. Hutton has been asking me to "turn on the fireplace" all week, so I finally complied. Of course, we don't have a handy gas fireplace, that can be started with the flip of a switch. Nope, our involves all the campfire skills I never had. I got a fire going for a short time, and now our house smells like the interior of a wood stove. That's OK, though! Hutton enjoyed the fire!

So, as the fire was going, I thought, "Hmm, this would be a cute picture for the Christmas cards, since I haven't gotten around to taking any yet." I ran and grabbed my camera, handed the boys their stockings, and starting clicking away.

Twenty minutes, a hundred pictures, and numerous mumbled curses at the slowness of my camera's shutter speed later, I sat down to pick a picture. Lots of blurry shots, a few dark ones, and several bad shots were deleted immediately. The rest I slowly went through, saving ones I liked or thought were funny, then going through twice more, further culling the stack.

Now, I present you the select few pictures I thought were funny or cute, and the select one I will use for my card. (Click on a picture for a larger version, complete with oh-so-witty captioning.)


Oh, and for my eagle-eyed readers, you will notice that Hutton's stocking is, indeed, the stocking featured in the Land's End catalog from this post. Now, did my BFF get a good deal on that one a few years ago because Hutton's name was already on it? I kid!

You Heard It Here First

Continuing with my weird dream theme, the other night I dreamt that I called Burger King to give them an order. That's bizarre for many reasons, including: 1. One doesn't call in orders to fast food restaurants, since the food is ready in, and only edible for, a few minutes. 2. I haven't been in a Burger King in at least five years. 3. Fast food restaurants in general are not something easily pulled off in my world of gluten and casein-free eating. Though I could eat there when I'm by myself, I don't usually go for fast food at 9:30 a.m. (when my child-free time usually starts, after dropping Harrison off at school), though I was intrigued by the ad for the new breakfast burrito at McDonald's. Nah, I'll just stick with my latte or mocha breakfast.*

Anyway, I head to Burger King to get my food, and there's some confusion about where my order is, and they have to re-make it. In the meantime, I ask for their flight menu, and sit down to compare the prices between Burger King and McDonald's for airplane flights. Yes, that's right. In my dream, both Burger King and McDonald's, in addition to their fast food, now offer flights. I don't know if they go internationally yet, but I'm sure they're looking into it.

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* The latte or mocha breakfast -- Sirius, the espresso machine, is acting squirrelly again. The coffee grounds, which the machine deposits into a little container after brewing, have been wet and crumbly, instead of dry and puck-like. As many parents of kids with Autism know, you can tell a lot about what's going on in a child, or machine, by looking at the state of the waste. There have been a lot of water drips inside Sirius, as well. I'm hoping that after I decalcify Sirius, things will work well again. I ordered the decalcification tablets online, and hope they arrive soon!

Other than that, our microwave is working again, for the low price of $300 (labor only - the parts were under warranty!). I have the Christmas decorations out, and it snowed yesterday, so it's looking festive around here.