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This is the family calendar. Conveniently, it was in need of flipping, so I thought I'd show you. You can see that the top one is written on and all crossed off. We are now onto the second calendar.
So I washed off the top one, flipped them, and added the new dates. Whenever one of the boys needs a ride or wants me to go to something, I ask, "Is it on the calendar?" If it's not on the calendar, it won't happen.
With this system, we tend to show up at everything we are supposed to show up at, even when we don't want to go.
O.K., it's a sucky picture of me, but there I am using one of the wooden spoons.
I was just delighted when I discovered the clothes pins with our names on them. I knew right away where to use them. This is "the white board." It's not just any white board. It's "the" white board. All important family communications, except dates, go on the white board. Dates, of course, go on the white board calendar. Duh.
If someone has an important piece of paper they are supposed to remember, like Andy's school picture form and check, important because school pictures can only be ordered that day (!*!$@! Andy), then the important paper is clipped to the red string with a clothes pin.
Now when a paper appears, it will be easier for family members to determine if it is for them or not. I just love them.
Thank you!
Andy turned eighteen, so we needed to party. He wanted an ice cream cake, so we made the ice cream cake to beat all ice cream cakes. Did you know that an ice cream cake from Carvel costs $10 per quart? This one cost $1.50 per quart.
I used three half gallons of ice cream and an entire package of Archway cookies. I used a large bowl and lined it in plastic wrap. I put the chocolate ice cream in first and pressed it down with a plastic-baggie-covered hand. Then I chopped up half the cookies and put them on with a few mini chocolate chips. Next was a layer of vanilla, then the rest of the cookies and some chips, then strawberry ice cream. I refroze it good and hard and popped it out of the bowl. I whipped up some whipping cream with blue food coloring and frosted it, then sprinkled on some mini chips.
I think it feeds 50. It cost about 10 bucks. I love a good bargain.
Our family parties are very exciting. This is Andy, my son, next to Mark, my brother, who is holding Seth, Mark's new son. Seth is about two weeks old here. We were at my Dad's house. There were about twelve other people there, making a lot of noise. These three didn't seemed bothered.
They all have good excuses. Andy's eighteen and sleeps erratically, Mark's been up a lot with the new baby, and Seth's only two weeks old.
I'm excited that Seth's joined the family. His little family is very sweet and all very happy about his arrival. Seth has a 21 year old sister and a 14 year old sister, along with a wonderful mom and dad. He's a lucky boy.
Rob is officially a high school student. This is the picture from the eighth grade promotion ceremony. You'll never find him in there, but I like the picture. He goes to an all-boys Catholic school with a dress code. This is how they dress every day. If you see them in person, it's hysterical. As you enter the building, they look so cute all dressed up, but as you get closer, you notice the rips, stains, and wrinkles. One day while joking with a teacher about this, she smiled and said, 'They smell, too." I love honest teachers.
When Mark is at work, Blaise likes to sit on his side of the bed. I used to think Blaise's ass landed on Mark's pillow accidentally, but eventually, I realized it was his favorite position. I used to tell Mark this, but I don't think he believed me. He just thought that I thought it was funny to say, "Brush off your pillow honey. Blaise slept with his ass on it, and he does it too much for me to bother changing your pillow case."
I've often noticed that when I'm serious, people think I'm funny, while my jokes go unnoticed.
Anyway, here's documentation. The dog loves Mark and wants to share his life with him, in his own special way.
Sad news. Java has Feline Immunodeficiency Virus and Toxoplasmosis. There is no cure, but we might be able to control the Toxoplasmosis long enough to extend her life for a while more. Or maybe not. We'll just have to see.
You can see the place on her paw where the fur was shaved off for her IV. She had come home Wednesday night and could not walk straight. We immediately took her to the vet, thinking she'd either had a stroke or was poisoned. The vet said that it could be antifreeze poisoning, and that was potentially fatal, so we had to take her to the vet emergency hospital. When we walked in, the receptionist got on the intercom and called "triage for Java" and someone ran right out and took her. It was kind of funny, since we didn't even know that our city has an emergency vet center with specialists on 24/7. Who knew there was a market for that?
Six hundred dollars later, poisoning was ruled out. Her tentative diagnosis was Vestibular Disease, which looks terrible but isn't and goes away on its own. She came home stable to wait for some last test results, and we stated thinking that when we were kids, someone would have put the cat in a cardboard box in the cellar and said "Let's see how she is in the morning." For $600 the vet put in an IV, ran some tests, and did the equivalent of putting her in the cellar box, only under the watchful eye of expensive specialists. We were thinking we'd spent a lot of money to find out she could have slept in the basement and recovered.
I was shocked when the vet called and told me the news. I'd convinced myself she was going to be fine.
She is tired and unable to walk straight or jump effectively. This doesn't stop her from trying. She knows where she's going, so she sets out for the food dish and walks in a wobbly path, then falls over once or twice on her way. If we don't follow her, she gets to her old food dish spot on the dryer and leaps three feet straight into the air, then lands on the floor like a sack of potatoes. We hear that and go get her.
She has always liked to be held. As a kitten, we called her the "the cuddle slut, 'cause she'll cuddle anyone." Now that she's tired and unstable, she likes to be held a lot. She's still sweet with no personality changes.
She's had a great life and has been a joy to share life with. She's the sweetest cat I've even known.
So I washed off the top one, flipped them, and added the new dates. Whenever one of the boys needs a ride or wants me to go to something, I ask, "Is it on the calendar?" If it's not on the calendar, it won't happen.
With this system, we tend to show up at everything we are supposed to show up at, even when we don't want to go.
I was just delighted when I discovered the clothes pins with our names on them. I knew right away where to use them. This is "the white board." It's not just any white board. It's "the" white board. All important family communications, except dates, go on the white board. Dates, of course, go on the white board calendar. Duh.
Now when a paper appears, it will be easier for family members to determine if it is for them or not. I just love them.
Thank you!
I used three half gallons of ice cream and an entire package of Archway cookies. I used a large bowl and lined it in plastic wrap. I put the chocolate ice cream in first and pressed it down with a plastic-baggie-covered hand. Then I chopped up half the cookies and put them on with a few mini chocolate chips. Next was a layer of vanilla, then the rest of the cookies and some chips, then strawberry ice cream. I refroze it good and hard and popped it out of the bowl. I whipped up some whipping cream with blue food coloring and frosted it, then sprinkled on some mini chips.
Our family parties are very exciting. This is Andy, my son, next to Mark, my brother, who is holding Seth, Mark's new son. Seth is about two weeks old here. We were at my Dad's house. There were about twelve other people there, making a lot of noise. These three didn't seemed bothered.
