Flip-Flops at a Wedding

Last Friday, Dave and I attended a wedding of  a teacher of Hayleys that she had in the past.  The service was beautiful, as was the bride and the groom looked handsome in his Military Dress Uniform.

The reception followed.  It was at a Yacht Club and the room the reception was in was beautifully decorated.  Before the bride, groom and wedding party arrived, the DJ called out that in the front of  his stand were bins of flip-flops for the women once their feet started to hurt from the heels they were wearing.  It was such a surprise, I had never seen this before.  All the girls were ooing and ahhing and running to the front.

The bride and her bridal party had bought flip-flops in various sizes and decorated them all with glitter, sparkles, foam, felt flowers and shapes, as well as ribbon.  Every pair was different.  At the top of the page is two of the girls from our table showing off their flip-flops.  The flip-flops were a delightful surprise.  Most of the women and girls who took a pair were already putting them on ready to dance the night away.

Once the music started, the dance floor was flooded with women and girls wearing their custom flip-flops.  All their feet were sparkling and shining underneath the lights.  I thought the flip-flops were a surprising and welcome addition to the reception.

I picked up a pair to show to two young women in the family to maybe give them ideas?????    😉

FLASHLIGHTS

Every home has flashlights, some more than others.  I came across 6 today in the cabinet above my kitchen desk.  I needed one to look under the hutch in the kitchen to try and find a pill I had dropped.  First, I took out a small blue flashlight, didn’t work, then I took out a large red flashlight, didn’t work etc. etc.  All 4 flashlights had batteries in them but they wouldn’t go on.  Why does this always happen?  

 Next I went in search of batteries.  I was able to find many AA and AAA  but no C batteries.   I got to thinking about it and realized I couldn’t remember the last time I bought C batteries.  I am always stocked up on the A’s because heaven forbid a remote control stops working in this house.  Everyone would be foaming at the mouth if they couldn’t continue to channel surf.  Also, I think we have been guilty of buying a new flashlight any time one doesn’t work.

 I layed all the flashlights on the kitchen table and went in search of others.  I wanted to see how many flashlights do we actually have in the house and do they work.  I continued on in the kitchen with the search, green cabinet drawer – 1 flashlight and 2 small white plug ins, one by the sink and one on the center island, all non-working.  I looked through rooms I felt might have a flashlight or two.  I found 1 in my bedstand drawer, non-working and 2 in the garage, non-working.  When I opened one of the garage flashlights, the batteries had corroded, who knows how long they were in the flashlight.

I sat in the kitchen with my 10 flashlights splayed out on the table. Only 1 in the group when I played around with it, gave me a very feeble light.  I got rid of all the batteries plus the corroded flashlight immediately.  I wrote down C batteries on my shopping list so I could get all those flashlights up and working again.

I am still perplexed.  Why doesn’t flashlights work, why are the batteries always drained especially since the flashlights go mostly unused. Growing up it was the same thing.  My parents had all kinds of flashlights but none of them worked.  When a power outtage occured, my parents would first scramble for the flashlights, find them dead, then scrambled for those candles we are also supposed to have in case of an emergency.  Couldn’t find them.  Basically it resulted with all of us sitting in the dark.

I bought new batteries, replenished the flashlights and even gathered together some used candles and put them in a kitchen drawer.  We will be prepared the next time there is a power outtage or if we need to look for something in a dark place. 

I am sure over time we will accumulate more flashlights, when one doesn’t work, forget testing the batteries, just buy a new one!

OUR WASHINGTON DC ESCAPADES – LAST PART

Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

Our third day in DC started out as uneventful.  We got up, went to breakfast and decided to go to the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum.  To me that is the most boring museum ever!  How many airplanes, rockets and space vehicles can one look at.  Dave and Hunter were eager to go, so go we did. Once we entered the museum Hayley freaked out screaming so I knew we were in trouble. 

Hayley and I trudged behind Dave and Hunter as they were checking out the many displays.  Every once in a while if I spied an open seat I would sit Hayley down while Dave and Hunter looked at something.  After a few hours we got lunch and it was back to the museum. 

 Dave and Hunter decided to go and re-visit some of their favorite displays and films.  I and even more so Hayley did not even have “1 favorite” display and so chose to sit down on a platform holding a very large rocket. I watched Dave and Hunter disappear into the crowd and Hayley chose to moan very loudly and roll all over the platform.  All of a sudden I happened to look in the distance and saw a head bobbing up and down and waving.  It was Dave and I then realized he was beckoning me to come.  I took Hayley’s hand and we made our way to where Dave and Hunter were supposed to be.  As we approached, I saw Dave but no Hunter, panic started to overtake me because I thought Hunter was lost.  As my eyes are frantically looking around, I saw him behind Dave laying face up on the floor with blood all over his face, shirt and the floor. Then I noticed Dave was holding a wad of blood soaked napkins.  “What HAPPENED”, I yelled?  Dave said they were walking around when all of a sudden Hunter got a bloody nose, he said blood was spurting everywhere!  Dave had no tissues or napkins on him, just the map and he knew that wouldn’t help.  After having Hunter lay on the floor and then standing there helplessly looking at him, a lady ran over and handed Dave napkins she had been carrying in her purse. Dave cleaned him up the best he could and that was when he waved us over. Meanwhile through all this, Hunter is crying and sobbing “am I going to survive this tragedy?” We finally were able to let him up without his nose bleeding, Dave took Hunter to the bathroom and finished cleaning him up to the best of his ability.  Meanwhile, Hayley is rolling all over the floor tantruming.  It is amazing how many people passed us by and saw Hunter and all the blood, plus Hayley rolling around screaming, yet not one asked if we needed help, and that includes museum staff as well.

Once that episode was over, it was back to the Natural History Museum.  Hunter’s shirt was covered with blood but hey, why would that bother him?  Hunter started the long process of video taping every animal in the animal exhibit.  While he and Dave were occupied with this, I found a nice bench in the corner and Hayley and I sat down. Once Hunter was satisfied with what he video taped it was back to the hotel.

After a long HOT walk back to the hotel, we got into our nice cool room.  I was never so happy to be somewhere.  It had been and exhausting day. Hunter changed into clean clothes so we were set, or so we thought.  We all sat down when Hunter got up, walked to the desk and got a tissue to blow his nose.  Before I could say DO NOT BLOW TOO HARD, he did.   He blew out a clot and blood went flying EVERYWHERE!!!  All over Hunter, the bed, carpet, tables and chairs.  After the initial shock, Dave and I jumped up, but Hunter darted past us into the bathroom.  He was trying to strip off his clothes and go into the bathtub, blood is ALL over……..sink, mirror, floor, tub you name it.  It looked as though a murder was committed! We are yelling for Hunter to get out ot the tub, but he kept screaming “I HAVE TO TAKE A SHOWER!!! Dave pulled Hunter out ot the shower and cleaned him up, I got him to lay on the floor by the bed, yet Hunter kept insisting that “Kevin” said if you get a bloody nose, you have to take a shower because it stops the flow. I argued no, that is not true, you must lay down.  The next day we found out from Kevin that when he was babysitting Hunter and Hayley, Hunter got a bloody nose while standing in the tub when Kevin was buzzing Hunter’s head.  What Kevin DID say to Hunter was that at least he was standing in the tub when the nose bleed came so it was easier to wash off.

Now mind you while all this is going on Hayley is jumping, jumping, jumping on the bed screeching.  Dave and I are still cleaning up blood when Hunter calls to me saying he is cold.  I march to where he is laying down and there the poor kid was laying in front of the air conditioner with just his underwear on and about a million goose bumps! I took a clean blanket and put over him and told him just to hold on a few more minutes.

Ok, blood is cleaned up about the best it could be. I got Hunter up and he changed into his pajamas as I only had one more outfit for him to wear.  Dave opened a bottle of wine, got out the water glasses and poured us a “healthy” amount.  We sat not speaking for a few minutes until the shock wore off.  Hayley is still intermittently jumping on the bed but we chose to ignore her. 

Dave decided to go downstairs to see if there were any take out menus for the area because we really didn’t want room service again.  He wasn’t gone even 1 minute when Hayley started REALLY jumping on the bed and hysterically laughing (this means big trouble).  I started to walk over to get her off the bed when she jumped past me, picked up the wine bottle and as I screamed NOOOOOO, the bottle of wine shot out of her hands and wine went EVERYWHERE!!! It went on the bed, blankets, floor and chair.  Yes, the same ones that are covered in blood, now are also covered in wine.  I yell at Hayley to go sit down so I could attempt to clean up the mess when Dave walks in minus menus. He just stood in the door dumbfounded.

We got cleaned up, opened another bottle of wine and finally sat down. But not for long.  Hayley got up on the bed started jumping and hysterically laughing. She started saying “pee pee on the bed”.  Dave whipped her off the bed and brought her to the bathroom. Hayley is still giggling, but after 10 minutes she says “try later”.  Ok, as Dave turns out the light in the bathroom, Hayley jumps on the bed and immediately pees all over it!!! Bed, sheets, blankets are wet. Now we have one bed covered in blood and wine, the other in pee. We used the last remaining towel to clean up the pee.  Dave and I again sat down and could do nothing but drink up our wine and stare.

When we looked around the room and then the bathroom with a stack of towels covered in blood, wind and pee, we knew then that we would never return to this hotel.  They probably have a “banned from the hotel” poster in every hallway for our family, and I wouldn’t blame them.

We can laugh about it now but at the time when this type of thing happens you feel helpless, hopeless, stressed, pissed, you name it.  But this is our life so you take the good with the bad.

After everything FINALLY calmed down for the night, you know what we did?  Order room service!

OUR WASHINGTON DC ESCAPADES – Part 2

Day 2 of our DC trip comes and when we wake up, Hayley starts holding her ear and saying “ear, boo boo”.  Great!  I tried calling our doctor and begged him to call in a prescription to get us through this trip, but he said NO!  We got into the car and road around until we found a drug store and we wound up buying organic drops.  At this point I will try anything.  I gave Hayley Tylenol and then wrestled with her until she laid down in the back seat, got her in a head lock and put the ear drops in.

We decided (even though it is a Saturday ON a holiday weekend and against MY better judgement), to go to the zoo.  We wanted to see the Panda Bears and the Tigers.  There had to be a million people walking and driving everywhere.  It was so crowded that all the zoo parking lots were closed.  Dave would have parked a few miles away and walked but I put my foot down…..it was 82 degrees!

It is now 1:00 and we decide to drive to the Lincoln Memorial.  Again, thousands of people were on the road and every motorcycle known to mankind. We were in so much traffic that we decided to bag the Lincoln Memorial and go to Arlington National Cemetary.  Are we stupid or what?  Every veteran alive was there and we couldn’t even get near it.  We got stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours!

Ok, we bring the car back to the hotel and walk the few blocks to the Smithsonian area and the Mall.  Dave decides we will WALK from the Smithsonian to the Washington Monument on to the Lincoln Memorial.  Does anyone know how far this is?  I stood squinting my eyes trying to see the Lincoln Memorial and could only make out a hazy object that seemed to be a hundred miles away.  No problem says Dave, we will take our time. If you can imagine I had a very disgruntled attitude.

We started walking and the one really touching thing that happened was, Hayley saw the Carousel and started smiling saying “go to carousel, go to carousel” and started running towards it.  Let me just say that a few years ago when we would visit the Jacksonville Zoo, Hayley knew the path to the Carousel there and would scream and scream. So, this was a very big moment for her as well as us.

We were so very proud of her! We let her go on it two more times.  Hunter was on it as well, but he was really more concerned if he was going to get a souvenir that day or not.

We walked on, made it to the Washington Monument. For anyone who has never been there, there are NO trees or any type of shady spots.  Hunter, Hayley and I were dying of heat exhaustion and thirst, but Dave pushed us on, “it’s not much farther he said”.  Total lie.  Hunter is complaining, I am dragging Hayley and frankly, I didn’t really give a crap about seeing the Lincoln Memorial, I saw it a few times before.

 

Next we hit the World War II monument.  Flowers and flags were draped on the different states that soldiers were from.  I stood in front of the New Jersey plaque as my dad fought in World War II and although he is gone, I am very proud of him for his dedicated service to our country.

We continue on, at least there are trees now so the sun isn’t so oppressive.  Although I am not a fan of Canadian Geese, we did see a mom and dad with 4 little babies on the grass, they looked so cute.  Hayley got so excited, clapping her hands, Hunter not so much.  We found a vendor, got ice cream for the kids and water for Dave and I.  We collapsed in the grass underneath a tree, I was really afraid I would never get up. Dave still had his get up and go!  We eventually got to the Lincoln Memorial, 1 million people there, I walked up the stairs pulling Hayley behind me and found a pillar and sat down on the cold marble floor. I leaned back, Hayley laid flat down on the cool floor.  Still not caring to see Abe,  I told Dave go for it with Hunter!  Hunter got his second wind but not Hayley and I.  After what felt like a 4 hour walk, I glanced at Abe and told Dave, we are out of here.

The walk was a little better going back.  We walked past the Vietnam Memorial which is very touching.  All kinds of pictures, stuffed animals, notes etc. are placed under loved ones names.  There were veterans from all the wars there. There were several World War II veterans there.  I wanted to stop and shake there hand and tell them thank you in honor of my father, but I was too overcome by emotion.

We stopped at the American Museum and  I got to see the “ruby slippers” from the Wizard of Oz (my second favorite movie after Gone with the Wind), Archie Bunkers chair and Kermit the Frog. That’s it I said to Dave, a loooooooong day, I AM DONE.

After an EXHAUSTING day we FINALLY got back to the hotel and you know what we did?………………………………….Order Room Service!

OUR WASHINGTON DC ESCAPADES – Part 1

Washington DC, our nation’s capital.  Millions of visitors flock to DC to tour the city and that is what Dave, me, Hunter and Hayley did May 27th thru June 1st, 2010.  We were excited, Hunter and Hayley were never there and the last time Dave and I were, was with the 4 older kids many years ago. Hunter was the most excited because he couldn’t wait to go see the Smithsonian Museums which he has talked about the last few years.

 It was Memorial Day weekend and we knew it would be crowded but didn’t anticipate the 500,000 motorcycles plus riders that would be there.  It was a nightmare.  At times streets were closed to let the bikes pass. And in addition, the weather was sunny, hot and humid in the mid 80’s, not conducive to the massive amount of walking Dave was expecting out of all of us.

Our drive down was uneventful until I realized I printed out incorrect directions to the hotel and we wound up in the WORST section of DC.  To say Dave was a bit annoyed is and understatement, plus Hunter and I were terrified!  Hunter kept asking “are we going to survive this terrible drive?” I tried to say in a positive way “of course, no worries” but he noticed my white knuckels grasping the dashboard and didn’t believe me for a minute. After back tracking, we finally made it to our hotel.  Whew, what a relief!

We stayed in the Grand Hyatt Hotel which was wonderful.  The location was within walking distance to the Smithsonian, Capitol building, Washington Monument etc.  Also, the Metro was under the hotel so this was very convenient as well. Once in our room we did one of Hayley’s all time favorite things……..order room service.  Don’t ask me why this thrills her but it does.  Hayley always orders mac and cheese with a coke. Whenever we stay in a hotel I get to sleep with Hayley and Dave with Hunter.  Hayley and Hunter DO NOT do well sharing anything together let alone a bed. Now let me just say that when you sleep with either of them you sleep with about 10 stuffed animals as well.  Yes, daddy lets them bring in the car whatever they want :).  By the time Hunter and Hayley are asleep, Dave and I find ourselves sleeping (or attempting to sleep) on the very edge of the bed and with no blankets. I spend a good hunk of each night rolling Hayley to the other side of the bed only to find her back again.

Day 1:  We went to the Museum of Natural History which Hunter LOVED.  We took lots of pictures and Hunter took video of the entire museum. Hayley did ok, it was very loud and overwhelming so I had to sit with her in quiet areas once in a while.  After the museum we went to the Botanical Gardens.  We had never been there before and I really liked it.  The kids on the other hand were bored AND wild. Hayley was in every water puddle, garden, water feature etc.  She was soaked from head to toe! I gave up trying to stop her. Hayley looked quite a mess and we did draw curious and sometimes nasty stares from people.  With living with Autism, Dave and I have grown thick skin and really don’t care what people think.  Oh, on occassion if I am in a pissed mood I will comment, “don’t judge until you live in our shoes”, “be happy your child doesn’t have Autism” or even one time “F off”, I will tell you I wasn’t proud of that moment. We finally got back to the hotel where the kids changed into bathing suits and we brought them to the pool. 

And what did we do again that evening? Order room service except this time Hayley ordered mac and cheese AND french fries………

The Writing Room…

As I have said in previous blogs, my son Kevin’s old room has been transformed into a guest bedroom/my writing room.  I LOVE it in here.  It is so nice and quiet on this end of the house. There is a bathroom next to this room and I can shut and lock a door that separates me from the rest of the house.  It is like I am in another world.  Even if others are in the house, I can barely hear anything.

 

Now mind you, I CANNOT be in this room if Hayley is home, her Autism does not allow this.  Oh she would probably love for me to be this far away from her.  It would enable Hayley to spray water all over the kitchen, dump all the soap she could find, rub cream all over her body and in her hair, raid the food cabinets and refrigerator, get the picture?

When I say others, this really means Craig and his multiple friends.  His friend Andrew has been living here for months which has been good for Craig.  But, Craig has many more friends that may as well move in because they are here so much.  Hence,  the peace and quiet I crave.

Back to the room itself.  We bought an antique dining room table that is called a “slide table”.  On either end there is a leaf that sets directly under the main table.  If you want the table to expand to 90 inches, the leaves slide out and push up to extend the table size.  We put the table in front of double windows that looks out on a beautiful view.  We live on a mountain so our house is high up.  I can look down on my other neighbors properties and in the winter I can see the tennis center and bank all the way down on Route 31. 

 

For years, various people said I should write a book because of all the unbelievable things our family has been through.  We have experienced, good, bad, mediocre and not so great things over the years.  I don’t know if I am capable of writing a book.  Last year Hunter, Hayley and I went to Florida over Easter break to visit Katie and Bill.  One night we all went out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants “The Surf”.  While there, the topic of me writing a book came up.  I told Katie and Bill I didn’t know if I could do this.  They suggested I start writing stories of each event rather than an ongoing book.  It was a good idea, yet I know how limited my time is and of course didn’t follow through. This past December while visiting Florida once again, Katie said she and Bill were going to blog and why don’t I consider it.  I did and thought at least a blog isn’t formal, yet I can write short stories  on it.  I have been plugging along slowly but surely.

Since Kevin and Devon (my son and his girlfriend) knew of the possibility of me writing of a book of short stories, for Christmas they gave me a big box full of goodies.  They copied and framed six various pictures of the family and wrapped them, gave me a beautiful leather journal to write my story thoughts in, an ink and quill writing set, and finally a small water feature to put on my desk to sooth my mind and let me think.

 

 I brought up a chair, put nice yellow comfy pads on it and added a blue cashmere wrap in case I got chilly.  There is a bed in the room for when I want to take a nap in the afternoon (NOT)!  Pencils, pens, paper and not to forget……my computer.  I have enjoyed writing, it is like a stress reliever.  Whether the blogs are read or not, the writing is therapeutic for me. I just have to squeeze writing in when the kids are at school or occupied.

I type on my laptop, so this is on the desk as well.  I do need a printer/scanner there as well, but this will come in time.  The first day I sat down at my laptop in my special room, I knew I had to pick the “perfect” screen saver.  I did, and as I sat there I thought “it doesn’t get better than this”! 

 

 

 

Jersey Shore

 

 

Magazines, A Life Long Love Affair

Some of the many I enjoy

I absolutely LOVE magazines! I got this from my mother. She always had magazines all around the house. At night when she settled down in front of the tv, she had a nice big stack of magazines next to her on the table and she read them for hours.  The one weird thing is that my mother read magazines from back to front, yes, back to front. How can you  read like this and know what you are reading?  I would ask her many times over the years why she did this, but I never got an answer.  One day when I was 6 or 7, my mother handed me my very own “Highlights” magazine.  I didn’t know there were magazines for kids.  I immediately read it from front to back.  I decided right then and there I MUST have a subscription to this magazine. My mother did send for a subscription for me.  Back then you had to use one of the subscription cards and send it by snail mail to the magazine.  It felt like it took forever, but finally, they started to arrive.  My favorite part was the Hidden Pictures page, I loved to circle all the items I found.  Then I would go to the Jokes & Riddles page which I always found hysterical (I am NOT a big fan of jokes OR riddles today) and go try them on my father.  He would always laugh and ask for me to tell him more.  Then onto the Drawings & Poems, crafts, stories, etc.  Thus the love affair began.

The teen years came and I would buy Tiger Beat and 16 Magazine. These featured the “hot” celebrities of the day, Bobby Sherman, David Cassidy, Donny Osmond just to name a few.  Then Seventeen Magazine came next, lots of tips for girls, probably not the same tips that the girls get from todays Teen Vogue.

This love of magazines has continued all through the years. When the older kids were little and we were homeschooling, we had many subscriptions. At lunch we would all pick a magazine and read it while eating. There was American Girl, ESPN, Yankees, Nickelodeon, Ranger Rick and several others.  I got a subscription to National Geographic because I thought it was the thing to do.  My parents had years and years of National Geographics stacked in their basement, pretty much everyone I knew subscribed to it as well. Over the years we too had stacks in our school room, but the thing is, no one ever read them!  In fact, I never once saw my parents crack one open.  It got me to thinking and I came to the conclusion that NO ONE actually reads them when you get them you just stack them up.  I finally cancelled that subscription vowing I would never subscribe to National Geographic again!  Well, 2 years ago when Hunter was 7 he requested National Geographic, I was against subscribing but Dave said let’s give it a try.  You know what?  Hunter DOES read the magazine!  Just last week he told me he read about the “Underground in Paris” that was the cover story. He told me it was about all the illegal activities that take place in Paris that no one knows about. Because Bill is in Paris, Hunter said he wants to warn Bill not to get involved in any of this.

Then it happened, Katie got addicted to magazines too. Third generation magazine lover.  When we go to the Florida house, she has quite a collection sitting around. Before I get there, Katie goes to Publix and buys ALL the gossip magazines they carry.  She has them stacked on the table waiting for when Katie and I can read trash together.

Now when I get a chance to read magazines, I have my own method of how magazines should be read. I get a nice big assorted pile of them and sit at the kitchen table. I place them to my right. I get out a pair of scissors and set them down. I turn on the tv and put it on mute. I usually put on HGTV or Food Network so I can throw my eye on it if I want, I don’t want to hear it, just glance at it. Then I choose a magazine and proceed to rip out each and every subscription card as well as any stiff card that advertises something.  My magazine cannot have any distractions in it. Then I can start to read.  I always felt the need to read EVERY page.  The editor’s letter always first and so on. I realized one day that I really didn’t like reading the editor’s letter, so why am I doing so.  Also, why was I reading about things that don’t pertain to my life?  I found I was able to let go, gone were articles about fly fishing, how to choose the right bikini (not in this lifetime) or how to be a bee keeper!  I started reading only what I am interested in.  Once finished, I cut off the top right hand corner and the address label if there is one,  the magazine then gets placed to my left where a stack will form to go back to Dave’s office. I know there are still some OCD issues, but not quite as bad.

There came a day though when my love of magazines took a dark turn. I was getting many, many subscriptions at home as well as magazines from Dave’s office that he orders for his waiting room. The women in his office share the ones they get home, so Dave also brings those to me.  I tended to read these first, cut off the top corner so Dave knew I read this already and bring them back to the waiting room (Dave has great magazines in his office, I hate when I go to a professionals office and they have crappy magazines). Anyway, this is not a house of leisure so I started to get way behind in my magazine reading.  Before I knew it, I had 6 months worth of magazines, 2 large stacks sitting on my Great Room floor. One day I spread all the different magazines on the floor. Each different stack had issues from June to what was then January. The newest issue was last in the pile, the oldest issue was first on the pile. I neatly stacked the 2 huge piles against the wall again, but this time, all issues were together for each magazine.  As new issues came in each month they went to the bottom of the pile for that particular magazine.  If I did get a chance to look at a magazine, I always took the oldest issue and looked at that. I knew it was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself.  I was literally reading about beach safety in February and Valentines day in the summer. When Katie gets a magazine she sits right down and reads the whole thing, so she couldn’t understand what I was doing.  Katie suggested I throw out all the old magazines, keep the new and just start over. What? that’s wasting magazines, I can’t and won’t do it!  She told me the purpose of magazines was to give you information and ideas for the current month it comes out, not to be read at the improper time.  I thought about this for days, and would start to sweat when I lovingly gazed at the stacks I knew I would never get through. How could I throw out those beautiful, smooth, glossy magazines filled with unknown wonders.  I finally realized that this whole magazine thing had become an obsession that I thought about every day. I also looked at my piles often throughout the day, making sure they were lined up properly. The insanity had to stop, I needed drastic action.  Immediately, I ran to the garage and got black garbage bags, called Craig downstairs and went to work. I kept all the current issues of the magazines and I put all the rest in black garbage bags and had Craig put them right away in the garage. I then gathered all the different magazines, went into the Library and called each subscription department and CANCELLED ALL the subscriptions!! I was totally drained after all this yet on a happy note, I was getting back $300.00 total from all the cancelled subscriptions.

Which brings us to today.  I do get subscriptions again, but not as many as I used.  I also still get the magazines from Dave’s office.  Because things have been crazy here for so long, I do get behind in my reading.  The beginning of last month I realized I had magazines from September on and without any hesitation I got rid of them and only kept the current month. Now don’t get me wrong I am up to 1 small pile again, but I am very proud to say they are NOT organized, nor have i done so since the last time. I may even read a magazine on the day it comes in if I have time.

My current pile

My current pile of magazines is much smaller than piles of the past and I plan on keeping it that way.  I will always love magazines and will probably backslide from time to time in my attempt to keep them under control but at least for now I am making progress.

Something about Maddie…….

Madison

Whew, this is going to be a hard one.  Madison who we often called Maddy was our first Golden Retriever.  In November 1993, Katie was 8, Kevin 6, Craig 4 and Tracey 2.  At that time we had a 6 yr old cat named Paw-Paw and a 10 yr old dog named Penny.  Paw-Paw was very elusive and would disappear when the kids were close by and Penny who was a Lhasa Apso was NOT kid friendly, so in essence the kids really didn’t have a pet they could play with.  They would ask for another dog from time to time, but Dave always said no way.  On Election Day, November 1993, when Christie Whitman was elected as Governor of New Jersey, Dave got home from work about an hour late.  When he got home, he told me and the 4 kids to go sit on the couch in the Great Room and close our eyes.  We ran into the room and sat on the couch from oldest (me) to youngest (Tracey). Dave came into the room and made sure we all had our eyes shut, when he said ok open your eyes, THERE was the most beautiful reddish Golden Retriever puppy that he had placed on the floor. All of us jumped up screaming, clapping and arguing who was going to hold her first. I actually got the pleasure, I picked her up and hugged her,  she was the softest most sweet-smelling puppy with heart melting eyes. It was instant love! I then passed her on to Katie, and as the kids were laughing, holding and playing with the puppy, I asked Dave why did he get he,r and his excuse was that Penny was getting old so he didn’t want something to happen to her and then the kids did not have a dog. For his tough exterior at the time, he really was a softy.  Now came the hard part. As the puppy was sleeping on the floor, we needed  a name.  We each threw a name out here and there, Goldy, Red, Brownie etc.  All of a sudden, Dave yells “I have the perfect name”!  Me and the kids altogether said WHAT………he said ” Old Yeller”….. yes that’s right, Old Yeller. The kids and I sat dumbfounded as he stood there beaming, obviously very, very  proud of himself for thinking up this name.  We as a family had just watched the movie Old Yeller a few nights previous so we guessed that is where the name came from.  I knew I had to tread carefully on this, I just calmly said, “it would be a good name except for the fact that this puppy isn’t a Yellow Labrador Retriever but a GOLDEN Retriever. Katie in turn (being Katie), said very loudly, “IT IS THE STUPIDIST NAME I EVER HEARD OF”!  There were also grumblings from Kevin and Craig, Tracey really was too young to care. Dave insisted it was a GREAT name and what difference did it make if they were different types of Retriever, a Retriever is a Retriever! After giving the kids the evil eye (particularly aiming it at Katie), I suggested we sleep on it.  The next day, Dave came up with the name, Madison.  Dave’s business is in Madison so therefore it was what she was named after.  We all LOVED the name, no one heard of it before and as a matter of fact, it was several years later that the name Madison became a popular girl’s name.

Madison, Maddie, Maddie-mc-faddie, Madsden, Faddie, She, Her, the dog answered to all of these names over the years. She was the best dog in the world. Great with kids, teens and adults. Maddie could never have been a guard dog, she loved people way too much.  Whenever we mentioned we were ordering pizza, Madison would wait at the door because the pizza delivery man always brought her treats. I think Madison would have given the whole house away for food of any kind.  Although most of her life she was strictly on dog food, we would once in a while sneak something to her. I remember one time when Madison was about a year old, she was hanging out in the kitchen with me as I was making blueberry muffins. She was sleeping contentedly  on the floor when I took the muffins out of the oven and set them on a baking rack on the center island. The phone rang so I went into the Library to answer it, it was my sister Linda calling.  We were chatting away when I walked back into the kitchen, I was leaning against the counter when all of a sudden I realized the WHOLE muffin tray was empty!!  I thought I was going crazy, I kept saying to my sister, what happened to the muffins, this is so weird, I know they were there.  I happened to glance over in the Great Room and instantly Madison popped up with her paws on the back of the couch and an empty muffin cup hanging from her mouth.  It was like she was saying “muffins? muffins? did someone mention muffins?  I was shocked, how could one dog take 12 muffins, I guess one at a time, eat them plus the paper excluding the one in her mouth, in less than 10 minutes? I walked into the Great Room and there wasn’t a crumb to be found, the only evidence was the muffin cup in Madison’s mouth.

Madison loved socks and would steal them whenever whe could. We would find mounds of them in corners or under furniture. The kids could lay on Madison, hug her and dress her up.  When Madison was 3 yrs old, we bred her.  To our great surprise, she gave birth to 15 puppies!!  There were so many puppies that the kids and I had to help with the feedings. No way could Maddie feed them all her self (nor did she want to). The kids and I  fed the puppies with eyedroppers and even had to set our timers and get up in the middle of the night to feed them.  Madison was very ambivilent about the puppies, the mothering kind she was not. Once the puppies were fed, she was out of there.  During this time in order to build Maddie’s strength back up she was fed, london broils, chicken, fish, hamburgers, hard boiled eggs, etc.  She was living the high life (which ended as soon as the puppies were weened). We wound up keeping two puppies, giving two to family and friend and sold the rest (but that is for another story).

My dad died 3 months before Madison had her puppies.  He LOVED Madison!  Because she was very red in color, my dad called Madis0n “the big red lobster”  and spoiled the crap out of that dog as he did the grandchildren.  When my dad was over, he always let this huge dog sit on his lap.  If I questioned this, his response was, leave her alone, she wants to sit here.  There was always something about Maddie everyone loved.

The years went by, there are too many stories to share.  Madison was the best dog every, not that I didn’t love my other pets, but there was just something about Maddie. Every meal I had, she would sit very, very quietly next to me with her nose on my leg, hoping I would share something with her which I usually did.  I always felt Maddie new when I was happy or sad and she would always layed quietly be by me.  In September 2006, we found out she had mouth cancer.  For the next 3 months she developed leg sores and had a hard time walking. We thought we would have to put her down in November of that year but she perked back up, Dave began feeding her like a queen and it was like having the old Madison back.  We totally spoiled her.  Months went by, Madison travelled with us to Florida, ran around the yard etc.  But, all of a sudden the middle of June 2007, the cancer was spreading, her sores were getting worse and it was getting very hard for her to get up.  The one thing was she was still a voracious eater!  One day I got up and she was sleeping on her bed in the kitchen, I made her steak and sat on the floor beside her.  She looked at me with those very loving eyes and then turned her head away……she could not eat.  I tried to get her up but was unsuccessful.  I called the vet who we had been going to for 20 years and she said it was time, Madison was 14 1/2 yrs old, never sick, was the best dog and that we owed it to her to let her go.  We waited until the next morning so we could spend as much time with her as possible.  We put Hayley and Hunter on the bus (Dave stayed home from w0rk), My vet and her assistant came to our house to put Maddie down.  We all sat on the floor, Maddie on her favorite blanket, we hugged and kissed her, told her how much we loved her.  She still weakly wagged her tail.  So with my arms around her and her head on my lap, we let her go………………….

Madison’s passing was an end to a very important time period in my life.  Homeschooling, raising the older kids, my dad, puppies, other animals etc.  I really hate change yet I know it is inevitable, Maddie was a tie to so many happy memories.  We all loved her, but I can say for myself  Madison held and still holds a very special place in my heart.  I will always love her and never forget her because, you know, there was always……somesthing about Maddie…..   xoxo

Maddie with puppies

Pop-pop and The Big Red Lobster

Some of the many hats of Hunter

The "New Dinosaur Hat"

The "Pikachu" hat stage

Hunter in the "Cat in the Hat" stage

 

Hunter loves hats and always has.  But he doesn’t like the traditional hats that kids wear like baseball hats.  No, he is more interested in “unique”  hats.  Ever since he was one year old you would find Hunter wearing some sort of hat.  Usually it was the fisherman type of hat but he didn’t discriminate.  He would wear any hat that came across his path, such as a chefs hat (no clue where it came from), plastic firemans hat, Craig’s filthy old man caps, and he also thought nothing of wearing a brightly colored sequin hat of Hayleys. He always was pretty insistant on wearing hats out in public which was fine by me yet I wouldn’t let him wear the sequined hat out so I braved the horrific tantrum.

When Hunter was in first grade the school had Dr. Seuss week. Now I have always loved his books, I read them as a kid, I read them to the older kids and also to Hunter and Hayley. The thing is, he got at school a very large red and white striped Cat in the Hat…..hat!  He loved that hat and wanted to wear it everywhere.  He wore it at home, he wore it to school and he wore it when we went shopping.  He was blissfully ignorant to the fact he was attracting stares from many shoppers.  Some people smiled others frowned like letting him wear that hat was some form of child abuse.  When you have children with autism, you tend to grow very thick skin and let others opionions not bother you (not to say I haven’t told people off before because of their ignorance) and find as long as your child is happy and not having a major lay down, kicking and screaming tantrum its ok. 

There were several hats after that but the next major love affair with a hat was a “Pikachu” hat.  At the time he was given the hat Hunter had no clue who Pikachu was or Pokemon for that matter. He was just getting interested in video games on his DS so his teacher brought in a game with Pikachu in it.  Hunter was instantly enthralled.  For two weeks as a reward he was given time at the end of the school day to play this game.  Finally, his teacher told him that her boyfriend works for Nintendo in NYC and that she was attending a party at Nintendo with her boyfriend. When she got back to school she had “Pikachu” cardboard hats for the kids. Hunter was in Heaven! He fell in love with that hat and wouldn’t take it off his head, he even slept in it. The problem was the hat was becoming wrinkled and worn which was upsetting him. Not to worry, his teacher had 4 extra hats that she laminated for Hunter. He wore one, she kept one in class and sent home two just in case. For days and days Hunter did not part with that hat. He wore it everywhere! Hunter even wore it when we were flying down to Florida for Spring Break. The hat did come in extremely handy though. Katie flew up from Florida and met Hunter, Hayley and I at the airport as I cannot travel with them alone and Dave was in Tax Season (anyone that knows us knows it is a sacred time of the year)  and she flew back with us.  Anyway, we were all sitting nice and quiet in the airport waiting to board. All of a sudden Hayley jumped up and started running down the concourse. Now at my age and weight I cannot run fast, as a matter of fact I don’t run at all!  Hunter in his Pickachu hat ran after her in hot pursuit. I was panicing because the airport was so crowded, but there was one saving grace, the Pickachu hat.  As I quickly walked the route they had followed I could see Pickachu bobbing up and down in the crowd way ahead of me. I kept focused on the hat and knew as soon as I saw it stop that Hunter had caught Hayley.  I finally got up to them and Hunter had Hayley in a neck lock, which was fine for a change because he stopped the insanity. I praised him and Pickachu for the execellent job they did and we all calmly walked back to our gate.  Hunter wore the hat on the entire flight and the whole time we were in Florida. 

One day, Katie and I took Hunter and Hayley to the Jacksonville Zoo.  Hunter walked around as a celebrity with cries of “Pikachu, Pikachu” coming from the mouths of children.  On the other hand the hat a very dark effect on many of the animals. As the four of us was approaching a fenced in area containing a very large bird pacing back and forth. Hunter said oh look at the Cassowary, Katie and I were like, “what?” He explained to us what kind of bird it was and where it was from etc.  The thing is, once we approached the fence, the Cassowary abruptly stopped pacing and stood in front of Hunter intently staring at him and glancing up at the hat. Hunter’s face, then the hat, Hunter’s face, then the hat. It was very, very creepy and we pushed Hunter on.  We went to the squirel monkey enclosures, there were alot of these small monkeys playing, eating and swinging from the tree limbs.  The are very curious monkeys and everyone watching them was laughing at the monkeys antics.  Katie was standing with Hayley on one side and I with Hunter on the other side.  We finally got our turn to get up to the window. They were so cute and funny, Hunter and I were laughing at them.  All of a sudden we noticed several monkeys on a branch very still and staring at Hunter’s hat. Boom!! the monkeys started jumping off the branches and hitting the glass in front of Hunter then dropping to the floor, they were coming from all sides! When I finally came to my senses, I pulled Hunter away from the monkeys and said that was enough zoo for the day.  Hunter thrived with all the attention he got that day and he got such a kick out of those monkeys hitting the glass.  I personally was spooked and couldn’t stop looking at that hat wondering what kind of power did it have over the animals…….Yet the Pikachu hat remained a hit for another 3 months. 

Hunter just got a new fishermans hat with dinosaurs on it from Bill’s parents for Christmas.  The obsession has started, he has constantly been wearing it at home, on the bus and at school, he even had it on in the bathtub last night. I have yet to know what adventures this hat will take us on but I am sure I will not be disappointed.