But aside from that, she's still completely normal
So, we’ve been having plumbing problems. Again. My dad was over to fix it. Again. Poe then calls me…
Poe: So your dad’s here fixing it.
Me: Okay.
Poe: He said the toilet was rocking, so he fixed it. I told him I noticed that while plunging.
Me: Okay.
Poe: He said that next time we need to not use the toilet for that kind of thing, and that the sink is better. More stable.
Me: This is the part where I hang up the phone.
Poe: Okay.
So we’re slowly but surely unpacking before the renovating begins. Not very newsworthy.
Poe’s brother, M, was in an accident. It was serious – a gasoline accident that gave him 3rd degree burns on his hand, and then 2nd up to his elbow, and caught his face a little. He seems to be healing nicely. Whether he’ll ever work again is the question. It was bad enough that the question came up of amputation. So far so good, but this means physical therapy, possible grafts, etc. He works in manual labor. He has to have his hands. The future’s in God’s hands, but I’m very curious as to how this whole thing is going to turn out.
And there’s been other drama in our lives as well… My game guild had a bit of a split. A bunch of high levels left. There was definitely some duplicity going on. I know that Poe and I were specifically lied to. So those people went off and created their own guild – and good riddance. But that means we basically have to start ours from scratch again. There’s certainly a lot more to it than this, but this isn’t a gaming blog, and I don’t feel like explaining the intricacies. But the bottom line is, this is Poe and I’s main hobby so that’s been taking some time to rectify. It may be a game, true, but these are still real people we’re dealing with.
Things are slowly getting back to normal. Although it’ll all go to hell in a handbasket once school starts, and we’ll start all over creating new routines and such. Hopefully, I’m back to stay, and I’m happy to report that I found the nail clippers, and I again have more than one pair of shoes.
I’m so frustrated. I can’t go into details on a public blog, but really people. Help me out here.
We ask for so little. And you never come through. SO. Little. It’s always “OK, but…” It’s never just “OK.” We’re making a major life change, and you can’t just go with it? Really? And you just make it harder and harder. I simply don’t understand it. Everything to do with you guys is always about your convenience. Your “right time.” Never our right time.
And you. The other one over there. Really? I mean, come on – you know what I’m dealing with, but no dice. And to add insult to injury, you decide to go ahead and take some more. Jesus.
I know I’m being vague. I just had to get this off my chest.
My neighbors are my parents. On one side. I’m not sure we have any yet on the other since I can’t tell if they’ve actually moved in yet. On that side, one more house over, they have a similar situation we do, they rent out the little house next to us. So far, it seems to me that it serves as a place for friends of theirs to live while saving for a house. I don’t know how, since I also know they charge an exorbitant rent, in my opinion. The people who own it, two houses over, have lived there 40 years or so, just like my dad, but they’ve never been friendly. And in fact there’s been some animosity.
Let’s see… When I was about 16 they actually built the little house next to us. At the time, my grandmother, who was 89 or 90 at the time, was living there. My parents were on vacation (again), and while grandma thought she was keeping an eye on me, it really, per my parents’ instructions, was the other way around. So those people are doing construction, and managed to attempt to saw through a transformer, causing it to explode. Which caused the privacy ivy to catch fire. Which caused the carport on our house to catch fire. I was next door (my parents house – are you keeping up?) cooking lunch for my friends. The stove literally jumped up and back hitting the brick wall behind it. Scared the crap out of me. I went outside, trying to figure out what was going on, when a neighbor ran up to me and told me to call 911. I did, and then went off in search of my grandmother.
My grandmother, God love her, was the first call to 911. I was stupid and had no shoes on, but my thought was of her. So – I, in fact, HAVE run through burning coals to get to someone. Transformer pieces were all over the yard and were still red and white hot. She was sitting changing her slippers into tennis shoes. Great. Makes sense. Then she decides to put her slippers under her bed. Because, you know. That’s where they go. At which point I boddilly picked her up and carried her out of the house. Then I had to move the car for the fire department. I had my learner’s permit at the time, so I was terrified I’d be in trouble with my dad. Went to a friend’s house to call my parents (the transformer blew out the phone line), and I was fine until I talked to my mom, at which point I was sobbing.
Other adventures with that neighbor include limbs falling off a diseased tree into our yard not once but twice, causing thousands of dollars in damage to my dad’s vehicles. They always paid, but come on! Cut it down for God’s sake before a PERSON gets hurt instead.
On the other side of my parents, who will be my new neighbors once we move, I have NO idea who they are. None. never seen them.
I’m still not sure they exist.
So – I’m a happy camper to be moving. Let my dad deal with the neighbors, and the damn tree, and the diseased tree sap. I’m done.
Don’t forget to vote for me!
We went on a desert trip… The Starry Safari at The Living Desert. First off – VERY VERY Cool. You go and have an animal show in the evening (it’s educational, we went with Joseph’s first grade class), then drop our stuff in our teepees and have dinner. Then a trip through the zoo in the dark to see the nocturnal animals. Then campfire, smores, songs, and bed. The next morning – bright and early, pack up breakfast, then another walk through the zoo, to see the daytime animals.
I really recommend it. But that’s not what this post is about.
Joseph has received a diagnosis. Disruptive Behavioral Disorder NOS.
NOS stands for “not otherwise specified.” In other words, conduct problems or oppositional behavior exist and cause clinically significant impairment but don’t meet criteria for a diagnosis of ODD or Conduct disorder.
With this in mind… And the excess stimuli etc, we weren’t expecting what we found… First off? We are WAY more strict than we thought we were. And really – we’re doing something right. Those kids ran amok. WITH THEIR PARENTS THERE. Now let me put this in perspective – we’re in a wild animal park… At night… With NO lights, other than our personal lanterns. We’ve been told, for our SAFETY, no running, no yelling, and stay on the path. The running and on the path rule due to the complete darkness, and the yelling because it disturbs the wild animals. Hmmmmm… It would seem that parents would want to enforce the children to follow those rules.
…not so much.
I was actually embarrassed for those parents. Because you, in my humble opinion, do NOT just shrug with a “watcha gonna do” look on your face. Had my children been acting like that, we would have physically picked them up, taken them to the side, and given them “the talk.”
But we didn’t have to. Because both the boys were angels. No, don’t look at me like that! Poe and I nearly passed out when we realized they were being this good. ESPECIALLY in comparison with the other kids. And I have proof. At two separate occasions, park workers specifically took us aside to tell us how well our kids were behaving, how polite they were, and that it reflects on us as parents.
We passed out again.
So, this proved to us, as we talked about it on the way home, that 1) Yeah – we are really strict and 2) It’s paying off, if we can take them somewhere with a little danger, exciting things to do and see, and other excited children, and they still behave like gentlemen.
Don’t get me wrong! They’re not automatons! The were really excited about the animals (Logan could hardly contain himself with some), and camping out, but they didn’t turn into banshees. Joseph did have a moment of almost tantrum because he couldn’t “go play too.” But when we explain that those kids weren’t supposed to be “playing,” (ie literally running around in circles screaming) he was fine.
There is one thing though… I think perhaps our kids were switched out for the trip. The proof, if their behavior wasn’t enough? Neither wanted chocolate on their smores.
Blasphemy.
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