A new dishwasher, yippee!

It's how I know I'm a responsible adult. And especially a responsible adult mother. I am overcome with joy that my new Bosch dishwasher came today, and was delivered and installed courtesy of my father. My old dishwasher slowly crapped out on me over the last few months. And for the last month it was totally unusable so I was washing dishes by hand - oh joy of joys. For the clever reader, you'll recall my ingenious method of kitchen cleaning, throwing a towel over all the dishes? Yup, that's coz I had no dishem-a-washer to put them in. Life will be so much better now - and cleaner! Although I will still refuse to use actual dishes and glasses. Paper all the way. Dishwasher will be for pots, pans, etc.

Small Boy is done with his first "track" of school. In year round school, there are 4 tracks and each track goes for 9 weeks of school, then 3 weeks off and this repeats year round. Because school had to start somewhere, his first track was only 3 weeks long and now he's on a 3 week "track out". Then he'll be on the normal 9/3/9/3, etc. He is signed up for the YMCA trackout program where they have themes for each week - like pirates, volcanoes, space, etc. He is super excited about going. It is so nice that he loves school and the Y because it would be very very hard for mama to send him there if he cried. I saw a mom in the hallway the other day; her son is in Small Boy's class, and he was sobbing and clinging to her (after 2 weeks in school). That poor mom, my heart ached for her. She said to me afterwards that her boy is fine after 10-15 mins in the classroom but that he sobs every day for her not to leave him there. So it makes me really glad that Small Boy is happy with school. I'm pretty sure I've have a nervous breakdown .... or home school him, lol! ... if he cried before school every day.

Well, Wheeler's yeast infection finally, finally was better. The open bleeding sores had just healed as of 2 nights ago and were forming scar tissue. I have been using this Aveeno stuff his mom suggested and it has been great - very dry and soothing. The last thing he needs is a wet agent, so this Aveeno stuff has been a godsend. Anyway, as I rolled him about in the bed to change the sheets 2 nights ago, I noticed a small spot on his uhhhh... "buns" (as we say with Small Boy). Upon further inspection it was a pressure sore. Damn. It is very easy to get a pressure sore when he has a yeast infection because he can't be up and about and he sleeps alot, so he ends up very prone to a sore. I had done everything possible to avoid it - turning him, rolling him, making SURE the sheets were smooth under him, moving his legs around a few times a day, etc. But despite all this, there it was, a pressure sore. It is so demoralizing because even though intellectually I know better, I feel that it's my fault. The good news is that we caught it super early. It is extremely shallow and although it's relatively big (about the size of a quarter), it is not tracking, it is only about 1mm deep and I really think it's just dry skin that was peeling off that rubbed him and caused his skin to open up a bit. It's likely to heal shortly, but that means at least 2 weeks in quad-land. Anyway, I'm just feeling really down about it because I have this lurking sense of guilt and I feel badly for him and me - we are now stuck here in the house for a few more weeks. Hey, at least I'll have a chance to cook alot and USE MY NEW DISHWASHER. (grin)

So I've come upon an idea that Wheeler really likes and I absolutely love. The anniversary of his injury is in late May, it was in 1988. He was 19 years old at the time and this May will be the 19th anniversary of his injury date. It's typically been a hard time for Wheeler to deal with the days and weeks before and after the injury anniversary - understandably so. The more we've talked over the years, the more he and I both want to make that anniversary something happy, not sad. He could have so easily have died that night; it was sheer luck honestly that he survived. And not only did he just survive, he has thrived and gone so far beyond anyone's expectations of someone paralyzed completely from the shoulders down. So I think that day is a joyous day, a day to celebrate. He actually wanted to get married on that date to "overwrite" the bad memories with a happy one, but we decided not to do that. But now, I have a great idea to overwrite the memories and to permanently place that date as a day to celebrate. A half and half party.

A what?

Since he was 19 when injured and it's 19 years post in May, we are going to have a huge, blowout fabulous party with all of our family and friends to celebrate Wheeler's life - both halves of it. And it's such a fun "theme" (so to speak) and easy to milk it for all its worth ... I want tables with flowers, half one color, half another color. I want the food to be say, half gluten and half "regular", all party goers will be served coffee with half and half :), the wine will be half red, half white. And I am thinking about other cool ideas, like making it half/half dress code. E.g. wear a formal top and ripped jeans or vice versa. We're going to have a rocking good DJ, a good friend of ours, and I want him to announce part way through to switch partners and dance with someone else's "half". We eloped when we married and never had a reception/party per se, and so this can be a way for all of our family and friends to get togehter for a rocking good time. I'm going to send out hold the date cards and everything, I want this to be HUGE and super fun. Another friend of ours is a party planner, so I'm going to have her do all the work and we'll just show up!

T minus 3 days until the claws and ovaries of Baby Cat are gone, gone, gone. She appears to be going into heat (please don't ask me why I think so, please) so even though they were going to wait until she was 14 weeks old, we will derive the benefit of a non-sexed-up cat a few weeks early too.

Small Boy is at his dad's house today. I miss that little guy.

Over and out.

He wants to be just like me

Small boy is terrorizing the small cat with our new hairdryer. It's really quite amusing and well deserved because that cat is just a PEST lately. She has been running around as if possessed for about a week straight, and she *launches* off of any and all available surfaces and onto any and all available surfaces. Therefore, she is to be declawed on Tuesday. Tuesday cannot get here fast enough!!

So we were watching Star Wars tonight and he told me during it that he had three wishes that he really, really, really wanted to be true and did I want to know what they were? Yes, I said. 1) to be a girl; 2) to wear glasses and 3) to be a cat. So, to summarize, my son wants to be a bespectacled female feline. Should this worry me? So, I asked him why he wanted these things and he said that he wanted to be just like me. When I mentioned that I am a not a cat, he said "oh, it would just be fun to be a kitty". So I guess this shouldn't worry me (laugh). I told him that I am exactly like my dad, but that my dad doesn't wear glasses and that he is a boy. That you can be just like someone but not be exactly the same. He appeared to appreciate that explanation then proceeded to shoot me dead with his improvisation light sabre consisting of several markers stuck together bottom to caps. Ah, the life of a mother of a Small Boy.

Wheeler is still completely coma-toast from this infection. Because he's on extra super good higher doses of narcotics, he is having bizarre dreams that he confuses with reality. Just now, for example, he awoke and said to me "I guess you can just forget about those chili nachos". I was like "hhhuh??????" and he said, "you know, ummmm, the uhhhh, those, err..... zzzzzzzzzz" back to sleep. Five minutes later he said it again and I told he had not asked me for nachos at all today and he said that he could have sworn that I told him I bought chili at Harris Teeter today. Ummm, no. Narcotics are wonderful things eh? Good grief, I can't wait until he gets back to his usual self!!

On looking fabulous

I got a makeover today at Nordstrom. I looked so much better with actual makeup applied correctly. Wow. So of course I bought it all, but now I'm quite worried about my ability to replicate the results. You know how your hair stylist can always make your hair look 4 times better than you ever can do at home? Even the day right after your haircut? So we'll see tomorrow. It actually started out as an odyssey to purchase sunscreen for my face that would not burn or cause breakouts. I ended up with sunscreen, moisturizer, foundation, and concealer. And the color of blush she used is a new one that will be in tomorrow or the next day, so I'm going to go back and get that too. This from the girl that never wears makeup. I better start now!

Remember my terrific plan to cover up all my dirty dishes with a towel? Well, they are all still there, under the towel, but now there are more dishes all over the counter. Sigh.....

Is it hockey season yet?

Stalking flies

Our kitten has been chasing - to no avail I might mention - a housefly all day. ALL day. Right now she is running spastically around the living room and randomly flings herself into the air waving her paws wildly in an attempt to catch the fly. Well, at least she is getting some exercise. The Big Cat is just sitting on the couch impassively. She doesn't care. In fact, she just meandered off to the bedroom to see what Wheeler is doing, perhaps something less interesting than chasing flies. And indeed, Wheeler is dead asleep, sawing logs. Just like Big Cat likes it.

Wheeler's new wheelchair is slated to arrive in about 10 days. It should be smokin' hot - all black with metallic sparkles. And here I thought my man couldn't get one stitch hotter. *yowsa*! Speaking of him, still battling infection from HELL. I think maybe possibly hopefully I found something that is helping. We'll see .... I've learned not to declare victory too soon with these things.

Small Boy found a frog on the way to school. We were walking along and all of a sudden he darts off the sidewalk into the grass and back on just as quickly. He said "I caught a frog!". I said "you did not!" because he did it so quickly, I thought he was just fooling with me. So he opened his hand and sure enough, there was a tiny little frog. We gave him to the crossing guard. 

Got the carpets cleaned today. Ho-hum.