Now up and running . . . Mom’s Brain

IN the interest of self preservation, and crossing my fingers to salvage at least an ounce of my sanity during this school year, I have chosen to take my brain, and put in into a physical, visual, color-coded, interactive format to better assist me in keeping up with all the crazies that live under my roof.

Any an all information anyone feels needs some “Mom attention” must be submitted in writing and then deposited into either the file slot of said child, OR attached to the white board.  The white board also is for phone notes, information from my husband OR my sister, seeing I need to keep track of where they need to be and when.  They don’t get file slots due to the fact they won’t be coming home with ALL sorts of papers and packets from school I’ll need to see, sign, and return to slot for them to pick up and return to school.

Each child has their own color.  It is reflected in many ways, including their magnets to hold notes on white board, their own colored dry erase marker, AND their own pad of post it notes!!  What are the chances that THEE 5 colors we assigned the kids would come in ONE pack of post-its.  So glad.  Funny enough, the color assignments came from the need to stop going thru SO many cups each day with everyone home.  I found the 2 for $1 at Wal-Mart, and got each of the kids a 2-pack of cups.  This color coding is already working out GREAT!! You never have to wonder what is who’s.  Hey, we even got computer thumb drives in the right colors for each of the kids. 

So, once important things are submitted, I am the ONLY calendar enterer person that can enter ANYTHING onto the calendar or attach it to the cork board.

I will NEVER be able to put into words how happy I am to have finally gotten this all UP and how eager I am to get it RUNNING.  I don’t need to remember, I just need to LOOK as I’m passing by with a load of laundry, or off to drop someone’s stuff in their room, etc.

 

Some day I’ll get on the ball with this blog…

…but for today, I’m just going to hit the recent highlights. 

School is out in a few days.  It’s weird to say that because I was just out of town for 10 days visiting my bestest friend Stephanie and her family.  I was there for their last week of school, Em’s graduation,   and then home I came. 

Now MY kids are taking finals, having their fun days, and doing the final countdown.  Weird déjà vu.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our garden is growing very well.  (this pic is from about a month ago…it’s grown SO much bigger)Robbie supervised it’s care while I was away, and everyone enjoyed the first 2 zucchini squash cooked up with dinner a couple days after I came home.  YUMMY!!! The cherry tomatoes are looking good (2 are nearly ready to pick already with LOTS more close behind) and we even have 2 cantaloupe growing.  I haven’t counted how many more zucchini or how many beefsteak tomatoes are growing, but the whole family is finding great satisfaction is watching this all thrive and tastes pretty darned good so far.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Randy had his Junior Prom a couple of weeks ago.  He and Shelli looked GREAT and had a marveloso time with Jenna & Eric. Our little boy’s all growed up.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jason started 2 college courses: algebra and psychology.  There are some days it just wears him out to have to use THAT much brain power, and he gets so frustrated with his memory problems, but he is determined to do this and do it the best he can.  I think HE will need a good long vacation after these classes wrap up.

The end of this week, Jason will be having his surgery to hopefully stop his acid reflux that has been wreaking havoc on his esophagus for over a decade now.:

“Laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery (commonly referred to as Laparoscopic Nissen Fundoplication) involves reinforcing the "valve" between the esophagus and the stomach by wrapping the upper portion of the stomach around the lowest portion of the esophagus - much the way a bun wraps around a hot dog.”

I’m sure all will go well, but please keep him in your prayers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next big thing for Jason is that he is awaiting the arrival of his working dog.  He is getting a psychological working dog, and this should do good things to help keep him calmer and (how do I put this without sounding like he’s a little kid?  I can’t)… basically I won’t have to be out with him a large majority of the time so he can manage being in public.  The dog will be his companion so he can maintain longer stretches of independence without the anxiety or depression and especially the ‘war zone’ mentality taking over.  I want Jason to be as independent as he can for as long as he can.  Much as I love spending lots of time with him, he needs to continue to feel as productive as possible, knowing his injuries haven’t stolen everything from him. 

Once the dog arrives I’ll do my darndest to post pictures :O).  oh, and due to the impending arrival of the new dog, we worked hard and found a wonderful new home for our precious Baby Grrrl.  I didn’t want her to be lacking in attention, but more importantly, I didn’t want either dog to lack in care – and pets are expensive.  SO, she is now with a great woman, keeping her company while her husband is deployed and she is expecting a little baby girl.  So our Baby Grrrl will grow up with their Baby Girl ;o).  She’s getting lots of beach time, and apparently LOVES it, so much as I miss my little spazzy shadow, I know she is in good hands.

OHhh yeah, and Robbie managed to hurt her foot while I was away, and my dear sweet hubbie didn’t want to hinder my ability to enjoy my trip, so I found out when I got home from the airport and saw her foot/leg all wrapped up.  LOL.  The kids were SO sure I was gonna be MAAAAAAaaaaaAAADD that dad didn’t tell me.  Have they not learned, I can only shake my head, roll my eyes, and say “WHAT happened???”  So far, doesn’t look like anything’s broken.  A wave slammed her at a bit of an odd way and she had her toes bent WAY too far with the rest of the foot still jamming forward.  ouchie.  Then, a few days later, even though her foot was a LITTLE hurt still (probably more then a little) it was field day at her school, and she HAD to participate in the events she had signed up for.  She just couldn’t let the class down.  Then, well, she wanted to hurry home to get OFF the foot, so she – in her infinite wisdom- RAN home.  OYE!! What’s a mom to do??

 

Let’s see, Curtis, Craigan & Zyzax are all doing well.  Nothing major to report with them, which is kind of a good thing.  whew.

I did make the little boys new drawstring backpacks before I went on vacation…. here they are, more then happy to show them off.  :o)

Please have yourself diagnosed for A. A. A. D. D

(this was shared with me, and is OH so accurate! How could I not pass it along :o) 

Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder

This is how it manifests:
1) I decide to water my garden.
2) As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide my car needs washing.
3) As I start toward the garage, I notice that there is mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier.
4) I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car.
5) I lay my car keys down on the porch table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full.
6) So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and empty the garbage first.
7) But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first.
8) I take my check book from my purse on the porch table, and see that there is only 1 check left.
9) My extra checks are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the can of Coke that I had been drinking.
10) I'm going to look for my checks, but first I need to push the Coke aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. I see that the Coke is getting warm, and I decide I should put it in the refrigerator to keep it cold.
11) As I head toward the kitchen with the Coke, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye--they need to be watered
12) I set the Coke down on the counter, and I discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning.
13) I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers.
14) I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table.
15) I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.
16) I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor.
17) So, I set the remote back down on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill.
18) Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
* the car isn't washed
* the bills aren't paid
* there is a warm can of Coke sitting on the counter
* the flowers don't have enough water,
* there is still only 1 check in my check book,
* I can't find the remote,
* I can't find my glasses,
* and I don't remember what I did with the car keys.
Then, when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired.
I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.
Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.
Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL.
LAUGHING AT YOURSELF IS THERAPEUTIC.