Grumpy, Jumpy, and Lumpy

Now we have the money and the new class is starting up and Andi tells me she doesn't want to do hip hop dance. Ugh... She was such a grumpy bear this morning and last night.
Cole's new alarm clock wasn't successful, but I got him thinking with my "I wonder" technique I read in one of my ADHD books. On the drive to school today I said, "hmmm, I wonder what part in your brain in being so stubborn not letting the ears tell your eyes to open. It's like your ears are hearing it but the brain is blocking the signal for you to wake up". You could see him thinking as I quickly changed the subject and kept rambling on before he could interject and argue. Yesterday he got another after school detention for being tardy 4 days in a row. One of those was for a doctors/ortho appt so I don't think it's fair. He doesn't mind though, probably because it's considered cool to get a tardy detention. Or because it's a forced study hall and he can catch up/get ahead on his homework.
Jake's in the middle of a break up. He's not talking much about it, but is stressed. The other day when his friend got home from the DMV he came over to get Jake. They wanted to go for a walk and 'chill'. I said, "Why, Are you gonna talk about Anna stuff?". They both just grinned. Then I yelled, "Wait, wait...I have something for you". He come back upstairs where I dig a silly key chain out of Ara's dresser and tuck it in his shirt pocket while saying, "Talk towards your pocket. This is NOT a recording device." "Mommmm you are such a dork." "Well, you won't tell me anything and it's driving me crazy. I wanna know what's going on with you".

Point of View

This recently came to me in an email, and since I'm a nut about not sending forwards, I'm sharing here, because I agree wholeheartedly with the moral.

Barbara Walters, of television's "20/20," did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands. She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. From Ms. Walters' vantage point, despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem to walk even further back behind their husbands, and are happy to maintain the old custom. Ms. Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, "Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?" The woman looked Ms. Walters straight in the eye, and without hesitation said, "Land mines." Moral of the story: No matter what language you speak or where you go: Behind every man there is a smart woman!

So I guess when Ara is 15 paces ahead of me instead of thinking 'What a jerk!', I should be reveling in the fact that I'm the smart one. Or would that be prideful. hmmmm.
Oh by the way, Thanks you know who you are for listening to me whine on and on about dear husband yesterday. He's still irritating, but it was great to vent and know I'm not alone in my married life struggles. I'm not even mad about toothpaste tubes or socks on the floor, I'm just sick of the self centeredness and inability of him to recognize any one's feelings. I think we are coming from two different points of view. I think the most important thing in life is the relationships you create so I operate from there. I have no idea where he's coming from, but based on actions he's not concerned about his relationships with them or me. It seems like he's more concerned with being the center of attention and has a great need to create excitement by stirring up any situation by being argumentative or teasing to tears or getting a chuckle from his actions. It's just all very tiring (and old). Still love him and he's my best friend, but sometimes I don't want to live with my best friend.

shiney stainless steel beauties

Over the weekend Ara decided that if he can plunk down money on a new xbox that he can replace our flaky pots and pans. We've probably ingested more than healthy amounts of Teflon over the years. So now our kitchen is decked out with these shiny stainless steel beauties.

Of course mine aren't as attractively displayed. Mine are in the traditional spot of haphazardly thrown near the sink waiting for some attentive person to scrub.

I am toying with the idea of introducing a GFCF diet to the fam. I know, I know. I get on my kicks, always looking for the perfect food solution. Organic, Vegetarian, and now gluten-free-casein-free. Nothing is cast in stone. It's just that Ara has had chronic tummy troubles since I have know him and his ears are always bright red, and chronic sinus problems and a chronic itchy rash. So I'm gonna try it. But it looks like I have to welcome meat back in if I'm taking away bread and cheese. The goal is to stay married, not run him off with my whacked out kitchen experiments. I am a fan of Hillbilly Housewife...well her site is now in the hands of another...still a good site...and her new site is http://frugalabundance.com/ See what happens when I have the day to myself reading, napping and surfing the net.

And I took Megs advice and blasted my music, fell asleep, missed Jake's frantic phone calls and text from school that he was puking and in the nurses office. It was a great nap (3 hours solid) but now has guilt attached because my poor guy had to endure the day feeling terrible. What an unlucky day for him. Oh Well! makes a man out of him...someday he'll be at work feeling pukey and endure that day. Guilt absolved.

HAPPY ST PATTY DAY

I woke up the fighting Irish today. Well, he's not exactly Irish, more like Italian, but he was all spit and vinegar this morning. We made it to school only one hour late today. I am really getting burned out with this everyday. We've seen pcp after pcp, allergist, had all kinds of blood test, counseling, an adhd diagnosis, and now the psych wants to send Cole to a neurology center to address his sleep problems. Any possible college money has gone straight to medical attention these last two years. I'm sick of having appointments every week. I wish Ara could be more of a help, but he's barely holding it together. He can't seem to control himself any better that Cole. I am so sleep deprived that I hurt from head to toe.
I'm really am hooked on this Yiruma. I heard it on Dorshan's old blog and you tubed it and showed Ara, who eventually put a disc together for me. So today I'm gonna blast it and stare at the ceiling all day. It really is beautiful and relaxing.

Angel Food for my Devilish Crew

Well, I did it. I signed up for Angelfood and put in my food order for this month. I spent $123 and will get two meal boxes, plus another 7.5 lbs of meat and a box of fresh veggies and fruit---even a mango comes in it this month! I pick it up on the 21st. I've also been invited to a Pampered Chef party so I can spend all that I saved on food on cooking gadgets...woohoo. Check out www.angelfoodministries.com for a location near you.

Cole now has a 504plan. A legally binding contract with specific classroom accommodations to help "level the playing field" for him. Hopefully the 504 will carry more weight than my ignored emails.

I had a spastic Tuesday as Cole verbalized in the morning that he was going to find someplace else to live. Usually his bark is way worse than his bite and I knew I was getting under his skin that morning so I just blew it off. I rolled up at the school at 4:28 to pick him up from his weight training and sat in the parking lot until 5:01. Frantic phone calls went out to Ara and to Jake to see if he had checked in with them. At 5:20 he walked in the door. He had gotten out at 4:25 and walked home. It's about a 2.5-3 mile walk. His bag is roughly 40 pounds...and the weather was cooling off and he was still in his sweaty workout clothes so I guess he had time to cool down (his body and mind) as he rucked it home.

I'm doomed

Ara is reading a book on massage (thank you Dorshan and Jason for the Christmas gift a few years back) and is confused on a certain technique. I told him he can practice on me. I may pass out from this rare miracle. Am I dreaming? Hopefully there are no strings attached.
Never mind....he just pointed out that the pictures in the book are of a girl massaging a guy...not of a guy doing a girl. I think he should get in touch with his feminine side. And now he just said, "Why do they have their clothes on? That takes the fun out of it." I'm doomed.

Geometric Nightmare

The floor is done....and it zapped our energy. On Friday on my way home from work Ara called to let me know that the deadline to have the floor done was moved from Monday morning to Sat at 2:00. We no longer had the weekend to work with. We had to start Friday night and finish Sat morn. Beth was a godsend helping me to move everything out and just calming me down in general, and feeding us on Sat. Another neighbor I just met Sat night brought breakfast by on Sunday. I feel so loved.
Ara had been toying with taking up the wood laminate that we had already done and putting a different underlayment down. After tackling this project he changed his mind. I told him it was like childbirth, you forget the pain of it until you're in the middle of it again. He wouldn't recommend any married couples putting in a floor together if they want to keep their marriage intact.