Interesting Morning

We have had an interesting morning. Husband leaves at 6:30ish for work. Around 7am someone rang the doorbell for the first time, I didn't answer I never do that early in the morning. 7:30am they ring again this time I answer the door and noone is there (I think dumb kids playing around no big deal). 7:45am it rings again ok now I'm getting annoyed I open the door no one is there but someone is lurking around in our trees, hmm maybe a salesperson? I tell Lucy who is the only one up not to open the door. 8:00am it rings again OK now I'm pissed enough is enough. Lucy looks out her bedroom window and says mom the Sheriff is out front. I throw on shoes and walk out to speak with him.

As I walk to the of my drive I hear he is talking with someone and telling them you can't be doing this, I don't care why. For all you know they have a gun and will shot you, just so you know they'd be well within their rights to shoot you. Umm OK.

As I approach the Sheriff comes to me, I know how it goes I stop and let him come to me and make sure he can see my hands. He brings this guy over he's late teens early 20's over and asks do you know him? I see the kid has some sort of name tag on and I say nope never seen him before, but if you are from the buy here pay here or payday loan place the previous residents moved a month ago stop bugging me. The Sheriff gets a little smirk on his face and says no ma'am he was looking for his "girlfriend" he says he doesn't have her number. Of course I have to laugh at that a bit. Neither off us bought the girlfriend line he also didn't know her name.

The kid apologizes for ringing the doorbell and I tell him look it's fine that you were looking for someone no harm no foul, but ringing my bell several times this early in the morning is a bit obsessive. Had my husband been here he would have opened the door and punched you, or chased you down when you were lurking in our trees.  Once again Sheriff and his smirk.

This all ended with the Sheriff asking if I wanted to press charges, I told him I'll save you the paperwork not this time. He told the kid to get in his car and leave. He was also told by the Sheriff "I better not see you around here again". Told me if you see him again give us a call.
I guess one of my neighbors saw him pacing up and down my drive, lurking in trees, just acting strangely and knew he wasn't anyone they had seen before so they called the cops. Husband says locks will be changed today.

No Guile & Mama's Turn Go to the Farm

Today we went to the farm. While yes it was for the kids I got to hang out with Mama's Turn Now. You should really check out her blog. Her son Jay and Roger hit it off. They were talking video game talk and found out they like the same games and the same shows Dr. Who anyone? Being we were there with other autism families well they didn't seem so weird, more like the couple of NT families were the weird ones. :) I will just tell you about it in pictures. (since I finally ahve a computer again and I can do that again) Overall everyone had a great time, and i found out I'm not the only one that has ever said no you cannot read today.

This is us.

Hay Ride

The Maze. They had a bamboo maze this is where Jay and Roger found bamboo sticks.

The Bridge this is where one of the boys lost his bamboo stick sword fighting. Normal response to what was the lesson "don't sword fight on a bridge you might lose your sword. The response we got don't reenact scense from Indiana Jones. Umm OK

They had big and fast slides here. I went on one it was kind of scary.

One of the many cutouts there, this one is Ice Cream. Mama's turn said this would be the only time she would be vaniella because theres nothing vaniella about them. Grace's response were more like rocky road.

The Boys yes they are all talking about some game or show who knows.

Lucy's Meltdown

It was Lucy's turn to meltdown last night. For the most part she typically doesn't. Last night she had a friend sleep over. The first time she had a friend sleepover. Everything was going well until about 9pm when we told all the kids it was time to be go to bed. Then her friend came out and asked to call her mom so she could go home. Husband took her home, Lucy's little heart broke because her friend went home and didn't stay. She just didn't get that sometimes this happens and is nothing she did. She cried for hours and went to sleep with a tissue box. :( This morning she was fine.

Band Camp

Band camp was a success. Roger loved every minute of it. The Saturday before camp we went to the location for his audition. The auditions were just for placement in the correct group. This was the only part he was upset about, he had flown in from his vacation with dad (that's a whole other post) at midnight and had me pick him up at 8am the next day. He felt that the lack of sleep affected his performance. During the audition one of the teachers was trying to make a joke. Roger plays tenor sax and one of the teachers plays alto sax. He was joking and saying oh you were demoted to tenor sax. The teacher did it know Roger is autistic, he hadn't been privileged to his medical information yet. Roger just looked at him blankly and asked that's a joke right? The teacher said yes but was a bit confused. They continued the audition and off we went to finish the check in process. Camp ran from 8am to 8pm every day for a week. They had both lunch and dinner there. At 7 everyday there was a concert some by students, some by teachers, and some professionals came and played, with Saturday being the big finale. The first day, they jumped right into the program and roger had a blast. He immediately found a friend who also plays sax although he played alto but they were together most of the day, they split when Roger went to piano and guitar class. Yes he has this need to play every instrument. The rest of the week went well, practice, practice, and practice until your hands fall off to get ready for the concert on Saturday. What needs to be said here is these kids were given the music on Mondays to learn and perform by Saturday. This is the same type of music they would be given at school but have months to prepare and it was multiple songs. I believe Roger had to learn a total of ten songs in a week for both concert band and jazz band. Friday was the sectional concert where each section (violins, sax, flutes, etc.) played by themselves. If they tried to do this on Saturday with the full bands the concert would never end. Saturday was the big day. Roger went in at 2:30 for dress rehersals convert was at 6pm. I must say these kids were nothing short of amazing. They played great. Roger was a little nervous he knew when it came time for the intermediate jazz band to play that he may have a solo. All week long the teacher had been teaching them how jazz is improptu and on the fly. Every kid knew there was a chance they would be called on to play a solo and they had to make it up then, they wouldn't know before hand. Now if you want to see Roger with no anxiety and most of his tics disappear, put him on a stage with his sax. There was no anxiety, he was expected and allowed to be in his own world, just like every other kid up there. They were all paying attention to the conductor and their music nothing else. When jazz band came up they played three songs. During the second song the teacher called on Roger to do a solo. He stood right up and did it. No fear, no anxiety, no tics, until he sat down and it hit him what he had just done and that all the clapping, screaming and people on their feet were for him. Then he had to shake it off a bit but he kept playing. No one at the camp treated him any differently than anyone else all week, to them he was another music student. They knew he needed a little extra help at times but never made it obvious to the other students. Even the other students treated him just like everyone else. At band camp he was one of them not the weird kid like he is at school. What's next: Roger will be returning to camp again next year. He also now has a audition with the youth symphony in September. His ultimate goal for now is to get a music scholarship for college. Oh and he wants me to buy him a piano. I'll get right on that.

Bone Marrow Donation Step 1: Registration

We have all heard about bone marrow donation and know how important it is. After spending time at children's with Roger and seeing kids who needed a transplant but waited to find a match only about 1% of all donors are ever matched I regiastared with DKMS. You can check them out at getswabbed.com, it is a very simple process you answer some questions online and they send you a kit. You swab the inside of your cheek and mail it back to them, where they will process and add you to the registry. It really is that simple. I registered last year, today I received the email that I am a possible match. Tomorrow I have to call them and go over some information about myself and they will tell me more about the process. I will be posting about the process here just so people can see the process from the donors point of view. Maybe if peoe can read about the process step by step from someone who has been there more people will sign up to be a donor. As for now I'm on step one the phone interview I guess you would call it and then off to the lab for further testing to make verify the match. I will admit it is all a little scary to me as I despise needles. To learn more about bone marrow donation visit

Another Moving Story: Death of The Van

Our van had started overheating about a month before we moved, so it had not been driven at all. The water pump went out and it was affecting the timing belt. Husband can fix most things but he won't touch a timing belt too big of a pain. Fast forward to moving day. We had to be out and we knew we had to get the van of the property as well. I could just see the last guy having it towed to a impound lot. We decided I would drive it. It was going ok we got on the highway and made it about a exit before it really started to overheat. We got off at the next exit where the wear house is and knew they would let me park in their back lot. Good plan except for the hill you have to drive up. Going to the turn my brakes decided they didn't want to work almost went into the back of the moving truck but got it to stop, then as I'm attempting to drive up the hill the timing belt gives out completely. Lucy is with me this whole time. Husband was able to inch it up the hill nd get it into the back lot where it still sits today until we can get it to the scrap yard. Poor Lucy was freaking out the whole time saying shouldn't we just get out of the car. Umm no you stay put in your seatbelt until we get off the road. Pet peeve of mine is when people breakdown on the highway or other busy road and take their children out of the car. Unless your car is on fire everyone stay in the car with seatbelts until help arrives. You have a better chance of surging if someone does lose control and come off the road with some protection of the car than if you are just standing on the side of the road. This was just another drama filled story fom our move.

The move continues

We know have all of our stuff in the house. Most of it is unpacked, there's a few boxes left and I need to get the bedrooms put together. The new landlord has already said he loves that he finally rented to someone who is OCD about taking care of the place, I.e. I can't stand to have it a mess. A little clutter is ok but looking like I belong on borders drives me crazy. The kids and the dog like it here too. Apparently my dog is not a city dog. We move him out here and he is calm even goes outside with no lease and doesn't leave the property. Roger has not taken his sleep meds (melatonin) since we moved in. Here there is no chance of someone just walking in and no parties upstairs like the last place so his anxiety is really low. Lots of room for the kids to run around they actually have room to ride their bikes and not be in traffic. The only issue I have is the kitchen floor it is just gross. The previous tenets never mopped there is jus layers and layers of dirt. I have mopped several times and can't get it up. Does anyone know how to clean lame ate floor? I have tried mr. Clean and bleach but can't get the last layer of dirt up.

Move Part 1: Drama of Moving Day

Well we survived the move. It was a bit dramatic in the end. The drama has nothing to do with the move. Roger was on vaca with his dad so he missed it all. If you remember we rented a basement from my boss. The weekend before there was a huge storm, power and phones were down for days. Ours came back Sunday afternoon. Anyways I never called boss to check in really when the whole area is out of power the last thing anyone is going to do is call for a moving company. Fast forward to Monday morning 8am. I get a phone call yelling at me for not calling, so and so called me 5 times blah blah blah. All lies btw I know so and so and he said I never called him. He was just in a lecture mood and really I was done with the holier than though attitude. As he was going off about me not being on he phones (which were down) I cut him off mid sentence and told him where he could put his phones I quit and hung up. Called husband told him what I did and that we were moving today. We hd plann to move on Wed. A few min later his kid comes down with the checkbook questioning a check I wrote for reimbursement for three trips my husband had made and paid for out of our pockets because the company didn't give him any or enough money. Anyways he flips out over this and says he is going to stop payment the check and he would discuss what was approved spending and what wasn't. All was company not personal expense. I called husband and told him what was said. 5 min later I get a call from husband finish packing I'm getting a truck we are out today I just quit. You don't mess with my money. After we both said we would go to the labor board the check was honored and currently husband is still working until he finds another job. I will not go back. Gotta say we packed and loaded a truck and got it to the new house that day. Some stuff was left that we went back and got on Wed. Now we just have to finish unpacking.