Between:

Andrea being away with the family for fun

AND

Erika being away for somber reasons

AND

Slian being away for intermittant internet and other reasons

AND 

AND

AND 

AND

Spottedcat you are my only Beta/normal correspondant/reliable commentor available.

The balance of my sanity rests on YOU ALONE!

HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


(this is not to insult all my other friends who sometimes comment, just to say that if I have to live without some of the named individuals much longer I will not be responsible for my own actions.)

Thanks to all for nice birthday wishes and comments and so forths!!!!!!!!

So, this week has been ok.  

Last Saturday we went to Eileen and Chris's house to see them and play with her little babe-in-arms and House Elf, her HE being 17 mos old and female.

MY House Elf spent the night saying "Come on, Baby, let's GO" and running around the room in circles, with the little girl following.  Everytime he said it her father and I practically threw up laughing.  Well, a little exaggeration there, but...  and they had a CAKE for me, which was lovely, and the kids played with toys and were good and did not fight or cry at all though we were there hours and Braveheart got to hold the tiny tiny tiny baby, who held his hand, in return, with a hand so small a quarter could have hidden most of it.  He likes little babies.

I got nice presents from my boys - a knitting video which actually has tons of information, a book I really wanted but did not want to buy myself and a set of sock blockers.  Sock blockers are the ultimate sock geek thing and sort of look like very flat socks made of plastic, and you put them inside what you have knitted so you can take better pictures of the socks.  I can see I have you all convinced of my geekiness.

We were perfectly happy having the Elf go to the Preschool with the stone tower, and then got accepted to the first one we had wanted and had the happy dilemma of choosing between them.  They are both very very good.  We are sending him to the first one.  I hope it is the right decision, but if it is wrong is only a little wrong  - not like if we had sent him the the Gates of Mordor Preschool I also looked at, so that should be ok.

I got to talk to a knitting friend who shall remain nameless on the phone.

I got to meet up with an HP knitting person I met in the swap I am in at the moment, and teach her to spin, which was SOOO much fun!  She is a really cool person.  And sweet.  Cool and Sweet do not always coexist so happily, but it is working for her. 

My little person is just talking so much more - I finally have someone calling me Mommy!  Braveheart did for one day, once, as a gift to me, and never has since.  No idea why or how that is.  But The Elf calls me Mommy 100 times a day.  It is such music to my ears.  Oh, and I was told that the tunnelling in the couch is fishing.  He is looking for the fish.  OK.....


Spottedcat has put lots of stuff in her washer, albeit at different times, and yet it has not exploded.  This is SUCH a good thing.  She does not like cleaning up any more than I do, and explosions are very messy.

I managed to download Eldest for Braveheart from the NYPL and we are listening to it and of course because it is a library loan it is free.  Is this not cool?  So if we love it we can buy it and if we don't want to listen to it 150 thousand times, we don't have to buy it to hear it once. The Very BEST part is that you don't have to return anything , it just stops working, so NO FINES!  This is great.  the only person in the history of the US to give more to libraries than me is Andrew Carnegie, but mine is all in fines...

Gary posted a really cool thing  about writing that came in something he got.  Thank you Gary.

Julie seems to have gotten to the new house, Sandy is being packed (They sounded like they would be putting her in the box next, those movers,) Andrea is having a nice time I hope, my brother is applying for jobs  - and if you wish to aquire GREAT MERIT and be released from MANY revolutions of the wheel and also get gold stars on your crown in heaven AND be known as a real mensh for doing such a Mitsvah, PRAY FOR HIM TO GET A JOB, PLEASE!!!!

It is not that he is some gormless lump who does not deserve a job and needs charity. It is that he is very very competent, and very very good looking which normally does not hurt in a career, and is terrible at interviews.  And is in a dieing city and would like a job in his actual field, although Sears would probably be very happy to have him back selling more refridgerators, but we would prefer to keep him out of the locked wing, so....pray for him, please.  You don't know him from Neville's toad, and God will just be so pleased with you for caring!!!!  And that will also be nice.

And...My baby pointed at the swarm - the actual swarm - of fruit flies in the kitchen and said "Bufferflies!" Ah, perspective!!!!!

Your niceness next, please.

I am having this feeling of Deja Vu...Spottedcat, you will know what I mean.

I have flute fries in my kitchen.

I have flute fries in my washing machine. At least, I did last night.  I think I drowned a bunch of them.  That, or we are just between generations. (itty bitty dementors.)

Oh - and I  have gained 26 pounds 

On the other hand, I hit a decent discount and got us (us being the family, although I will be the one who has to actually use it for them) a scanner/printer/copier.  I have had drool dripping down my chin for a scanner for at least 5 years.  The printer was about 9 years old.  It could not print graph paper because it did not actually print every particle it was supposed to.  Enough to read, usually, but it left out whole horizontal lines of graph paper.  But then, who needs graph paper, right?  I feel like such a reech beech.

And, oh, did anyone know they are now selling fake toenails?  So your feet look good in sandals, I suppose. Does this mean they do acrylics and tips when they do pedicures now?  This is really neither here nor there, I just felt I had to tell someone.  I mean - fake toenails!  How could I keep that to myself?

Spottedcat, when you finally do find the blue disc we will have it copied onto a microdot which I shall paste between my reall toenail and a fake one and it will never be lost again.  Well, at least not till the toenail falls off....

Today is my birthday, and the first thing I am going to think is nice is that in the last 48 years I have not died:

Of being born
Of that intestinal flue I had as a baby
Of the cold, that night in Brooklyn when my parents were so terrified I would that they put the mattress on the floor, piled all the blankets, coats and everything else they could think of on top of us and put me between them.
Of any of the over half dozen car accidents I have been in over the years
Of bronchitis/pnuemnoia any number of times when who knows how it would have gone without antibiotics
Of gangrene and peritonitis when my ovary died
In childbirth
Of misery.

That just takes into account things that actually had a chance.  I also have not died of abuse/neglect, hunger, flue - like a bunch of my great aunts and uncle - violence, random or focussed against women -like my great-great grandmother- Tuberculosis - like great great aunt - and so many things I could not even think of them all to list them.

And if you are reading this, neither have you, and I am probably pretty happy about that.  More niceness.

I have a house.  I have a running car.  I have a master's degree and a professional liscense, I have work experience. I live in a country where tanks are not rolling down my block and there are no minefields, where I don't have to cover myself with a blanket when I walk out the door, where I can speak my mind and the only problem is finding someone bored enoudh to listen.  I have a family of origin that I love, I have two kids I did not have to resort to frozen sperm and a turkey baster to get and a husband who does not make me wish he were just a turkey baster.  We have food, clothing, and health insurance.  We live in an area where doctors are readily available.  Also bookstores.  There is enough discretionary income for the internet, for me to knit, for the box from Amazon, whatever is in it, that was delivered today and which I was warned ahead of time not to open. 

I realize that I have more than most people in the world, and I am grateful for all of it.  For the people I know who don't have the things they really need, or really want, I have hopes and prayers that life will improve for you, instead of working so hard at improving you instead.

And I have some amazing friends.  And I thank you all. Especially the ones who had some amazing stuff posted for me at, like, 12:06 am.  You guys rock.

Your niceness below.

The first school of the morning, to which I drove with my little cherub in the backseat, is in a lovely residential area, and has a turret with norman crenellations at the top, and a view of the bay.

It is also a very nice school and I am perfectly pleased if he goes there, which they say he will,t hey have a place for him, the question is just whether  it will be in one class or the other.

However, the last school that said they had a place for him recanted when they read his workup.  So I went to the other school this afternoon.

And I will tactfully shut my mouth right there.  I think today I found out exactly where some of my lines are drawn.  It is not a bad school.  However, it would probably be a bad idea for my kid.

So let us hope tomorrow morning goes as planned.

Did I get it all done, Spottedcat has kindly asked?  Well, I went to the school.  And I went to the second school, that I was not planning on but they called me this morning.  And Braveheart went swimming, and also had a walk with Grandpa.  The Elf, however, did not go swimming.  He was very tuckered out and fast asleep on the couch and we decided not to tickle a sleeping dragon.  But my parents stayed a little later so I could go out to the Spinning meeting, which I hardly ever get to go to, and that was good.

Tomorrow?  The doctor's appointment I swapped with Dad for, among other things.  And the doc thought that was a stitch.  But then, our doctors tend to find us stitches.  At least the ones that understand what we are saying...

Thank you all who commented on my crazy schedule this week.  I would share a bottle of fire whiskey with any of you any time - well, not you, Spottedcat, but I'd give you a lovely saucer of milk while I drank.  Hell, you could have a saucer of half and half if you wanted it.....And I didn't have a skinny cow, but I did have a WW ice cream sandwhich, so I did have that.  It was a good idea...

when I got a call from School District lady, who chastised me for having my phone busy for three days.

Then we discovered she had been calling the wrong number.

However, she was there to tell me that my meeting with her was not Tuesday, the 16th, because, as I had noticed, Tuesday was the seventeenth, but was actually Monday the sixteenth.

"I already have an appt with the school you are sending me to look at at that time, so I will just figure they are ok."

"No, no, go to the school I will change your meeting to 12 o'clock."

So then there were several calls to DH, who had to rearrange his schedule, and calls to my parents, to rearrange their schedules, and calls to my doctor - first, I had thought I had to cancel Tuesday's appt,, then I realized since the other appt.  was not on Tuesday I did not have to.  I left messages both times.

At 8:30 this morning when I stumped downstairs to discuss with Braveheart's new nursing agency (His old one went out of business) why I could not be at my house at ten o'clock to deal with their nurse, I was running on some but not an amazing amount of actual sleep, and  I was arguing with dh about the House Elf.  I had forgotten I had not told him tha twe were not bringing him along as originally planned because we had to go from one meeting to another, so that the baby certainly could get dressed and see his speech therapist, who arrived a few moments after the nurse, who was sent over in a tearing hurry to get our signatures before we left while Grandma actually told them everything they needed to know.

So, to recap, it is about 8:45, I have my mother, my father, my two sons, my husband, and two strangers  in my house.  Was I still in the clothing I slept in?  I can't recall.

Turns out the nurse really can't understand anything on the doctor's orders, which don't make a lot of sense no matter what I threaten the doctor with, and I had to explain that and cram some food in my mouth while DH moved the cars and then I ran out to the car and we went to the school.  

The person I had to see was not there, but they copied our paperwork and showed us the classroom, which we thought was ok if not our first choice (we are wait listed for first choice...)  and I had no problem with one of the kids being in a wheelchair, why should I, my other son is.

From there we go over to the place where we are meeting, I have a cup of tea, and we go into the meeting only to discover that the school has called over and we cannot have that spot because all the kids in the class either can't walk or are learning to walk and my energetic toddler might be a danger to them.  So why don' we go look at this school with a program for behavioral issues. 

Screeching halt.  And I will spare you the details, but let me point out that in five minutes they had recanted and I was being told about another place, where I must go Tuesday, they have one spot left, and etc, etc, she can't see me today, etc. I must call in the morning.

By time I got out of there I needed a strong belt of firewhiskey, but did not get.  

Went home, gave Dad his 14.99 person thing they sell on TV to help you hear when you do not have 7,000 for hearing aids, which actually works, go figure, parents left.

Played a little bit with child.

Made dinner, which actually included something green for most of us and a root vegetable for the other, ran out to shop for food.  Come back at 10:45 at night, the baby is still up, DH can't help me because he moving things off Braveheart's bed as the nurse is about to arrive, and my mother calls again.  And the Doctor had called - my dad and I have the same doc and we decided to switch appointments this week, this was ok with the doctor And the speech therapist called earlier in the day to cancel.  And my mother must hav ecalled four times, two of them for the same piece of information which took me 15 minutes to find because everyone thinks I am the village idiot and moves my stuff to wherever they care to, why not, it is not as if I am a parent here.  My husband chastises me for putting tuna fish cans in the sink.  (No, that was before I left to go shopping) The nurse comes in and immediately needs a towel for tim and several shopping bags - still do not know why the shopping bags.  It is 12:04 and it is no wonder I eat it is just a wonder I don't start drinking heavily.

Tomorrow I have to call this other school and see if I can go there adn get my mom to come down if I can and try to find clothign that fits (I gained 26 pounds) and and and...

I do not live in a home, folks.  I run a facilityl

 Ok, with the niceness of the past week:

The friend who needs eye surgery has the best surgeon in the country.  Also, a number of us lighting candles.  So this is good.

I seem to have made a new online friend who is close enough to actually meet one of these days.

I went to a new yarn store this Saturday, recc'd by said online friend.  Nice store.  Carries nice yarn, and lots of books. 

I went to this quirky little town where the yarnstore was and got a nice hat, small teapot and a book each for my boys at the Junior League thrift shop.

The friend of the family who had cancer had a fracture in her leg, which was not nice, and when they opened her leg up to put in pins or whatever, they found another one, also not nice BUT they did all this while the fractures were splits in the bones, not snapped, so that is VERY VERY good.

Grace's shawl was finally put up for voting and I voted for it.

We heard from Bravehear't's old nurse from three years ago  - we really miss her!

We have two appointments for the little one tomorrow, and should then be done till he goes to preschool in the fall.  Can you believe these are full-day preschools?  *sobs* my BABY!    But it should be good for him.

The House Elf has been, even for him, uncommonly amusing.  There was this incident with marshmallows...

The boys finally did something besides cards for me for Mother's Day.

I have a doctor's appt. on Tuesday, I think.  And that should at the very least yield a new prescription.  I am having something wrong with me that I really hope is my meds and can be fixed by a new little piece of paper...

The people next door got bushes planted.  Not that I like them, but looking at my front lawn and realizing they can't possibly like that either, we are even, so I can be happy for them, because I presume they DO like the bushes.

All the AC's are in  - my dad dropped by one day especially to help DH with one of them.

We got bids on the thing we needed to do to the house.  Not only did this yield a very very good offer, it also came with a funny story...

If I owe you a drabble, I have not forgotten you, I just have not written anything this past month, at least.  See note about Doctor.

Your niceness, please!!!!

 It might be a rather crusty nice report.

Starting with last weekend - Braveheart and I were, as I warned you, having too much fun.  What we were having too much fun AT is a competition for youngsters with physical challenges.  there were 1200 athletes registered - 1200 kids with differences from the norm ranging from dwarfism (Which makes it a little difficult to compete with other kids in your high school at, say, Long Jump, although I never thought of it as a disability before I started going to these games.  )  to missing limbs, to cerebral Palsy, to you name it.  

Braveheart competed in various tossing endeavors, kicked a ball, and came in first in swimming again!  He gets the gold medal every year.  I got to go in the pool with him this time, which was awesome - I have not been, in any way at all, seriously involved in an athletic competition since I figured out how to register for anything but Volleyball in HS.  (Helping Braveheart toss a bean bag is just not the same as a race, you know?)  It was actually quite different form anythign I've ever done in my life.  Braveheart was not happy with his performance, but as I pointed out to him, he did better than anyone else his age, his sex and his level of disability, so he should feel good about that, which I think in the long run he did.

Grandma hung out with us Friday - well, grandma, and the teacher, and DH, and the baby, who was a stitch and a handful and running all over everywhere constantly having to be retrieved, and sobbed as if someone had been murdered when he had to stop playing in the wading pool they had out in the middle of the field.  I have no idea why it was there, but he had a good time pouring water from cups and so forth back into it.  

Both Thursday night and Friday night Braveheart and I stayed over at the dorms of the University next to the field, which was fun.  We got to ride the buses, which are driven by members of the Transport Workers Union who are not paid for it - they do it on their days off.  The drivers and helper are always really nice, and sometimes Braveheart got to sit with other kids in chairs.  At least one girl on the bus, and two in a building, made a real effort to talk to him, and he was shy!  Well, duh, he never gets to speak to anyone his own age, never mind anyone used to people who have differing ways of communicating.

Out of the weekend as a whole he seemed to emerge with some sense that he can do more than he has been doing, and some willignness to pursue that, which is awesome!

On Sunday, we had the House Elf's third Birthday party.  He got trucks, and clothes, and things of that ilk and was very very happy.  He blew out the candles on his cake and then kept blowing  - we think he might have thought continued blowing would light them back up, but we are not sure.  The hit of the day was the punchball.balloon thing I got in the Party Store - was it 99 cents or 1.99? He adored it! 

Monday...what was Monday...Monday and Tuesday we got to see DH while it was still light out. The Elf is talking more all the time.  We h ad a relatively quiet week with slightly less running around than usual - not that we run around all that much - and then we had this Saturday.

The car broke down, but it was within walking distance of home, and I was able to coax it to the repair shop at ten miles an hour.  And it is repairable.  Not that the sum belongs in a nice report, but...

I got the interlining I needed for a project.

Enough people volunteered to send stuff to people who were stiffed by their swap partners in HSS3 that the sock mom said she would do HSS4.

I found out one of the swappers in the HSKS5 actually lives a few towns over and visits a senior citizen in my neighborhood once a week to visit for an hour.  Is this not cool?!

I got the yellow yarn I needed at the yarn store and my mom got me the black yarn today - I will see it when they come Wednesday.  Is  this not cool?

And I have finally managed to post this.  I have not been feeling all that well, folks, but I managed.  That is good news.

Most of you already posted niceness, and I thank you, but if any of you super-slacker did not *coughAMandacough* feel free to do so below...

You'll get it later today.  There is always niceness somewhere.  But I have to say this has been a hell of a week for me and I would really appreciate if the slackers who NEVER post any niceness would find something somewhere to report.  It does not have to be your own niceness, ok?  There has got to be some celebrity back in Rehab, some guy off the DL, a sale on toothpicks, something.

I will be back later.  Prepare yourselves!

" I will write a drabble (100 words exactly) for the first ten people to comment and ask for one.  In return, you must post this in your journal.  You may request the character and/or pairing - though I can't promise I will write them in a relationship - for the following fandoms:

Seeing as I'm only writing in the Potterverse, you're stuck with that.  Please include a short prompt with your request.  And then spread the madness."

I do not promise exactly 100 words.  You may get, say, 97.  On the other hand, if I love your idea, you may end up with a one-shot.  Life is like that.  You pays yer money and you takes yer choice, and then half the time you don't get it anyway.