Author: Doris

Vince has been working “hell week” at school.  He’s working the lights for the fall musical – The Little Mermaid and opening night is Friday! The kids have to stay in the auditorium and not leave until about 9 pm at night.  Knowing this, some clever parent coordinated a bulk take out enterprise and they they had a chance to pre-order dinner.  Not wanting to make it super easy for me, Vince and his pals decided that the pre-ordered dinners were lame and that Sam’s mom got better, tastier dinners.  And then, was I really going to let Sam’s mom feed Vince all week?  No.  So that meant that today at about 5 pm, I got an order for a 12 piece family meal from Popeye’s.  (With a smoochie emoji.) It was more expensive than I thought it would be – almost $33 – and I thought it was too much food for the three boys who had eschewed the pre-ordered meals and were in it together to wrangle their mothers to become food delivery couriers.  But I delivered it and some of it came back to the house!  Jeremy had a piece and said, damn!  that is some good chicken.  (OK, maybe he didn’t say damn…)

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Vince had two babysitting gigs this past weekend netting him a total of $90. One required driving and we were in Philly, so he took a Lyft.  He doesn’t like using Lyft, it makes him nervous – he said that his heart was pounding while he was waiting for the car.  We subsidized the Lyft ride, and he might have given me a hug for thanks.

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Thank you Virginia!

Sunday night dinner at our house this week.  Usually it’s the Martins, but this week, it skewed over more towards the Lees.   A lot of the Martins were out of town and a lot of Lees were in town.  We were busy all day, Jeremy managed to make a dinner for 15 in about 40 minutes.  A record, I think. even for him.

Vince’s pal, Isaac came by for dinner too.

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One of the things I was suppose to do on Sunday, but didn’t get around to it was to clean and fix all the little things in the downstairs apt so it would be ready for move-in on Saturday.  Reinstalling the refinished countertops.  I’m doing it now, in the evenings this week.  We have induction stovetops and we needed to buy new pots for those.  We don’t have a “proper” kitchen down there, if we had a real stove, it would need to be permitted. But it’s pretty damn close to a real kitchen.  Every once in a while, Nat would want to come upstairs and use the big oven, which was always fine with us!  Technically, we are renting out a room and not an accessory apartment.

Assembling the new toaster oven.

Edda’s bus lift is still broken, but we managed to get her on the lift again.  Manually.

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Friday night, my mom’s cousin is in town from Shanghai via NYC.  They were in NYC for a few months taking care of their new grandchild and came down for the weekend to hang out with my parents.

We went out to Founding Farmers with them.  Vince got the scratch soda – guava & vanilla, I believe.  It was very tasty.

Family photo:

Oh, Vince.

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After dinner, everyone else went home – I headed to DC to Lauren’s house for a “thank you party”.  Molly, her daughter, had the exact same surgery as Edda (scoliosis) with the same surgeon at Children’s a few weeks after Edda, but things got really complicated really quickly which resulted in an extra long hospital stay – a record setting one for Molly who has had really long hospital stays in the past.   Molly is doing much, much better now.  She’s at home, recovering well.  Lauren wanted to say thanks to all the people who helped them out during those weeks when everything was in turmoil.

Lauren, who is a professional food-person, made the most beautiful & delicious cakes for the party.  I felt like I only had time to say hello, but I ended up staying until well past 10pm.

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On Saturday, we went to Philly to see our friend from grad school, Vidya.  He suffered a brain stem stroke in mid-August and has been recovering the Penn neuroICU ever since.  We didn’t learn of this until last week and we made quick arrangements for Edda’s care so we could make a trip to Philly and back.  If you google brain stem stroke, you get – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – which is both terrifying and optimistic.  Before the visit, we knew that Vidya couldn’t move his body, but we didn’t know if his cognition was compromised.  Anyways, it was kind of a relief to see him in person, to see that his personality is still evident, that he understands everything and is even challenging the nursing staff with the dosing and timing of his pain meds, he has expressive facial expressions, can nod yes or no, can mouth words and is learning to control some of his upper body again – getting back some ability to cough and move his torso.  The family has a printed alphabet they are running through (slowly) to have him spell out things he wants to say.  We hoped and anticipated that Vidya’s mind was perfectly fine and we pulled out Edda’s eye-gaze computer (which we haven’t had much success with, in the photo below, you can see the eye-gaze camera set up as a bar underneath the tablet) and dusted it off and tried it out at home to make sure it was kind of working.  Of course, the set up for Edda is much, much different than it would be for Vidya software-wise.  Luckily for us, we were visiting at the same time as his cousin who is a software geek professional who got really into it and is going to take it home and really get it working.  Fingers crossed, I’m hoping it works well enough for easier communication.

Our new tenants are moving in, not this weekend, but the following weekend.   The great thing about our tenants (other than the rent that they will be paying and that I feel like I can justify living in a huge-ass house because we are housing so many people/animals) is that Ning (half of the new tenant couple) is planning on joining Team Edda and she’ll be able to work an hour in the morning to get Edda dressed, fed and onto the bus before she goes off to her own regular day job.  I’m always excited about people joining team Edda, I’m especially happy that we’ll have a backup caregiver living in the basement apartment in case we need an extra set of hands.  Always comforting & reassuring.  The apartment looks pretty good, we just have to sand and finish the butcher block counters and do some caulking in the bathroom and then some final sweeping/vacuuming.  Still, it will involve some trips to Home Depot and time.  We tried to squeeze some home repair time in during the weeknights.  This sanding of the butcher block is really just practice for our real, big project which is sanding and refinishing our own dining room table.  The finish on the surface of the table has degraded over time, so it feels like it’s always sticky and dirty even though you scrub the hell out of it.  Hopefully we can do that project before the beginning of the new year.

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Jeremy’s been buying Edda new matchy pajamas.  Good morning Edda!

Now in the mornings, Jeremy feeds Edda while I work for a bit and then I take over and dress Edda and get her onto the bus.  The bus had a problem today, the lift wouldn’t move.  The bus driver had to lift Edda up on the platform by hand-pumping the lift.  Yikes, I really wanted to do it for her as she’s had a number of knee surgeries and it seemed like hard work, but she insisted that she could and she did and Edda did get on the bus.

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I have resurrected Edda’s sewing machine (Edda Renouf, not Edda Martin)! Youtube videos, a few orders from the vintage sewing shop & some mechanical know-how and now it’s humming along.  I love that quiltmaking can involve machinery maintenance as well.  I have learned many things about this Singer Featherweight.  It is a relatively rare white version of the famous, usually black, Singer Featherweight.  Made in Scotland in the early 60s, it’s quite the collectible.  Did Edda use it much?  I’m not sure.  Jeremy suspects that Edda had it because one was suppose to have a sewing machine in the house, but that it wasn’t regularly used.

Well, I’m happily quilting on it.  It’s got a few sewing quirks I’m still learning about, but that’s OK. 

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I did not get outside for my run until 1:30 pm today.  The best thing about fall, winter and spring running is that one should be able to run at anytime during the day and it won’t be hot.  In the summer, I want to be outside as early as possible so I’m not running in full sun, heat and humidity.  In the cooler months, I can be lazier and run whenever during the day because it should be 40 degrees outside all the time now.

But, omg, it was almost 75 degrees outside.  We are so screwed.

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We made breakfast for dinner tonight.  I tried to make hash browns from scratch.  Not great b/c it all fell apart when I tried to flip them, but it all got eaten.  Enough sour cream & ketchup and then it’s mmmm.  I also used bacon fat to fry them up so that added something…

Loves, I am tired today.  I did not sleep well last night.  I awoke at 4 am and then fitfully tried to sleep until 6 am.  I do not like missing sleep in this way.  Last week, when Jeremy was out of town, I went to sleep an hour earlier than I normally do (9:30 instead of 10:30) and I was rewarded with three nights of vivid dreams that I remembered when I opened my eyes right at 6am, though they have disappeared now mostly.  Except the one scene where I was swimming in Hawaii with Vince and laughing.  I have come to accept that my life is one of less travel than I had imagined when I was 25, but maybe I can, instead, dream of trips with my family.  I want the dream of Edda swimming in Hawaii with me, laughing.  Did I use to dream of her speaking to me?  Maybe, but not recently.

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I went to quilting class today, where despite the hands-on nature of quilting, had me nodding off.  This is because we spend the first hour talking about everyone’s quilt progress and color palette.  My quilt blocks are right behind the teacher in this photo, so you can’t see mine.  I’m having a good time, but I’m no teacher’s pet.  She has strong opinions on color and I’m afraid that my quilt does not match her taste.  It actually doesn’t quite match my taste either, but I quite like it.  Can I like something that is not my taste?  (I bought I quilt kit on super-sale because the price per yard was getting to be very, very good and then I had 14 yards of good quality, matched but varied, fabric.  I didn’t like the quilt for the quilt kit, but I’m using the quilt kit colors to make my sampler.  This is why the fabrics aren’t quite my taste.)

I learned to make this block today, the angle and meeting of three fabrics at a point is especially tricky.  This involved a plastic custom template, an awl, double sided tape, two types of scissors (junk & fabric), fabric pen and the reverse stitch on my sewing machine.

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Vince has, to his great credit, switched from getting car rides back/forth from school, has biked back and forth to school 99% of the time.  This is especially great in the mornings as it allows one of us grown ups time to start a workout while the other one gets Edda ready for school.  We are trying to add a little more daily exercise into Vince’s routine.  We’ve tried a few different things this year, but have not been successful.  This week, we are starting the NYT 7 minute workout.

Arietni was kind of into it.  She might join in next time, but this time, she was the coach.  Maxi was barking her head off as if to say – what are you crazy people doing?  Don’t you know you need to do downward dog?  Forget about sit-ups.

Just this week, I started to apply for part-time nursing gigs and realized that I needed to renew my healthcare professional CPR certification.  I went on Halloween morning and this was a particularly good class. It was taught by an enthusiastic firefighter with straightforwardness, brevity and good humor.  CPR training used to emphasize the mouth-to-mouth breathing.  Now, there is no mouth to mouth breathing at all if you are a lay bystander and for health care professionals, you only provide breaths if you have a barrier method.  I think people were balking at doing CPR at all since you were suppose to do mouth-to-mouth.  So as a lay person, just do the compressions! Don’t even worry about the pulse, if they are unresponsive, just start the compressions.  Forget the breathing.  It’s better than nothing to keep the blood circulating around. And go get someone to run and find the AED <- that’s the key.  I also almost cried during the training thinking about people who might need CPR.  Gah.  Things can be tough.

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My mom bought be this hat and left it on my office chair while I was gone.  When I came back, I thought I had a cat sitting in my chair.  I was kind of excited at that possibility.

Vince looks good in a cat.

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I was going to bail on Halloween.  The kids are too old & the party at a friend’s house that was suppose to happen got cancelled.  We are at the end of the street that doesn’t get very many kids; I proposed keeping the lights off.  Everyone looked at me like I had grown two heads.   After CPR, I went out and bought candy.  I remembered that Ruth had given us Halloween decorations.  I had to ask Adriana (the tallest person in the house at the time) to put up our ghouly ghosts.  I know it really it was that everyone wanted candy in the house – something I never do.

Boo.

Loves, it’s been a busy weekend and I know it’s Monday night already.  Jeremy started out on Friday going to a hipster coffee shop in Chicago.  The barista is wearing the Supreme shirt Vince covets.

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Vince came home with Sharpie tattoos.

He was headed out to a campout for the weekend, so we squeezed in a rushed trip to a burger joint before dropping him off at the church.

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On Saturday, with Jeremy home, I ran the Interfaith 5K in the morning.  Cindy put it together.  I did win my age group – finished in 26:38 – 8:35 pace.  Ack, could have done better – gave up a little in the last mile, I couldn’t make myself race this morning.

I went home and Jeremy headed out to bike to Vickey’s 50 miles away:

Where she was hosting Bert’s 5th birthday party – Star Wars Angry Birds theme!  (I drove there – no biking for me…)

The catapult was an incredible success.  It went pretty much non-stop for two hours.  Kids pulled at it, the adults helped.  The adults tried a few shots too.  This kid (in the photo below) could launch the balls past the next door neighbors house into the next, next door neighbor’s house.  I’m happy it held up and that it made the party the talk of the neighborhood.  I’m happy that Vickey’s dad approved of it (he’s a pretty good woodworker/carpenter). 

Edda had the most fantastic time at the party – ate all the chicken nuggets and the beautiful/delicious cake.

And she did launch some angry birds.

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Sunday, I went into the woods on a rainy day to orienteer.  I have not been practicing.  Been out of town, been making catapults.  The national championships are in a couple of weeks at Quantico and this was the last meet before that meet.  There is no question I’m in above my head,  I fully anticipate being last in my age group, but hopefully that means that I will be slightly-not-last next year.  We’ll see.

It’s really nice to be out in the woods for a couple of hours, mostly knowing where you are, but sometimes not quite knowing where you are and then reassuring yourself that you can find your way back to the car and then back home.

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Seth turned 55.  We celebrated with donuts.

Delivered Krispy Kreme donuts to Vince’s school today for the Beyblades tournament.  I brought them piping hot to the front office where all the office workers perked up and hoped for a donut.  But they did not get any donuts, they sat there waiting for Vince to pick them up two hours later at the start of lunch.  He brought three home at the end of the day.  One for me/Vince, one for Edda and one for Arietni.  A & E were very, very pleased.

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Jeremy’s new phone arrived today.  But Jeremy is not around to enjoy it.  He is still in Chicago.

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I’m trying to do a bathroom rehab, both in the guest bathroom and in the basement bathroom.  Replacing the molding caulk, fixing the diverters in the tub and replacing the flushing mechanisms in the toilets. 

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Vince is playing video games. 

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I had 5 small screws left to put in to get this singer sewing machine going again (I took a break from a few weeks ago because the screws were driving me crazy).  I managed to get two in and then for the third one, I tried once and I dropped it.  I found it, and I tried again and then I dropped it again and it remained unfound.  I spent at least 20 minutes looking for it.  I had to order a new screw from a vintage singer featherweight shop.  I ordered 2! so I could lose one again.

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Sleepy Edda.  <3

Jeremy is in Chicago for the week.  I would be lying if I told you I was totally OK with him being away.  (Actually, I get grumpy at him for leaving, then I get grumpy at myself for getting grumpy, because it’s not like I don’t have the super-est flexible job with one old kid who can take care of himself and slightly needier (but not extremely needy) kid with tons of after school & evening care.  I might as well be eating bonbons all day.  Some wives might enjoy a week at home with the kids without her husband, but my husband tends to be very helpful and generally a nice conversationalist and he cooks for me.  The most problematic child is Maxi who got into a literal dogfight this morning at 6:50am with the next-door dog.  Story for another time.  (everydog is OK)).  I might have been a grump-meister the few days before he left and I might have started fighting with Vince during those days which resulted in a rougher few days after Jeremy left because Vince and I were still working out whether we were really mad at each other.  It’s such an easier house with a cheerful Vince (which I get like 85% of the time).  But now, I think, we have forgiven each other and hopefully, smoother sailing for the rest of the week.

On Tues night, I manned the Philmont table at the scout meeting.  It’s a little weird that we are asking folks for a $100 deposit (pretty much non-refundable) for a trip with unknown exact dates in the summer of 2019.  We need the money to enter the date lottery in mid-November and once we get those dates, the deposit checks are due.  I’m excited for the boys! 

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Without Jeremy, I do all the cooking/cleaning of dinner and seeing Edda to the bus in the morning.  I lose a little working time in the morning and the evening, but I usually can manage. Bye Edda!  Have a good day.  Edda was so happy this evening, just laughing and laughing.  We are trying to teach her to chew on a chewy toy and not on her bandana which would get soaking wet and then drench her shirt.  I think it’ll take her a while, but it’ll be so much better once she learns.

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I’m still able to make quilting class:

Triangles this week, trying to get all the points to meet up exactly in the center.

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One of the reasons that Vince is forgiving me for my trespasses is because I promised him I’d buy three dozen Krispe Kreme donuts for his Beyblade tournament he’s having for the Beyblade Club he is running.  The meet Thursdays during lunch and they are getting a pretty big turnout – 30 kids or so.  He also spent his own money buy special Japanese Beyblades from Amazon.  That kid needs a job,  that boy has things he wants to spend money on.

We partied hard on Sunday.  Jeremy’s coworker Jana invited us over to her house for an late afternoon get together.  And then we headed to Sunday night dinner with Ross & Barbara (distant relatives) – sorry, I got a poor photo.  But the conversation was very nice.

Today, I had coffee with two moms of kiddos in Edda’s class.  We should meet monthly, but we haven’t seen each other in over a year – even though our daughters see each other every day.

Maxi puked on the rug today.  What did she eat?