JAY!!!

Friday

Last night was the worst night since I don't even know when. Maybe since I first put Ruby in her own room. She woke up at 3. I went in there and she was just hysterical. I rocked and calmed her down and then put her back to bed. She was up ten minutes later. I went in again. This time I gave her Benadryl told her to go to bed and I wouldn't come back in. I didn't but she screamed and kicked her door and walls for a long time. WTF????? Why is this happening?

The rest of the day was no fun. I was so tired. I think I took a nap. I got the girls and then I don't know. We didn't have normal movie night but I can't remember why. Oh jeez, I remember.

I got a text on my phone that tornadoes were coming through. I made the girls turn down the TV and told them we had to listen for sirens. Maggie freaked out. And, of course, within a couple of minutes the sirens were going off. We went to the holiday closet. Maggie calmed down. Ruby had no idea what was happening, just that we were hiding from gonadoes. She provided plenty of entertainment. We left and came back to the closet a few times before it was really over.

By that point, it was Ruby's bedtime. We again reviewed the bed rules. Fingers crossed.

I came out and sat in my chair. I was so tired and just done. But! I look out my stupid window and there's a freaking dog on my back porch. Dammit! But, what can you do? I go get her and she's terrified. Mostly of all my pets. I wrapped her up in a towel and just held her. After a few minutes, I went to see if she was dry and noticed stitches on her belly. Poor thing. But I figured this was good news. Someone would definitely be looking for her. I posted pictures of her on Nextdoor and Facebook. I let her sleep with me because I didn't want anyone to mess with her.

Saturday

Ruby only woke up 30 minutes early!!! It's a miracle.

We got up and I exercised. Ruby exercised with me and pet the new dog. I kept checking in on my posts to see if anyone had claimed her. By 7:30 am someone posted a picture of the dog and said I think you have my friend's dog. It was definitely her so I called the owner and left a message describing her. They called me back within 30 minutes and came and got her. Woohoo!!!

All three of us took a shower but the girls wanted to stay in after getting clean. I got out and started getting ready. I went in the kitchen to turn on the coffee maker and it was snowing!!! Well, I mean a little. But still. I haven't seen snow in years. I could hear kids outside everywhere. I ran back to my room and yelled to the girls. They jumped out and went to my window. I got them towels. It only lasted about an hour. I'm glad they didn't miss it.

I worked for a little while and then we just chilled until Jill woke up from her nap. We were going to hang out at Laurie's house. I wanted to bring Jay because I didn't want him to be alone so soon after we got him.

Laurie immediately loved him and she's going to adopt him after he's healthy!!! He really is the sweetest funniest guy. He followed anyone that went into the kitchen in case they were going to pass out food. He's so cute.

I give him pumpkin on his breakfast and peanut butter on his dinner to encourage lots of eating. He's definitely less painfully skinny. 

The girls went to their Dad's and I hung out and we all watched TV. Laurie felt bad so she went to bed early.

Sunday

I haven't done anything today and it's great. I've watched TV and loved on Jay. He's my bud and I love him.

Ruby came home with a fever. Bleh.

Back to life. Back to reality.

Monday

Back to school! Back to work! Back to real life! Back to routines and regular eating and screen time. I love, love those two weeks of ridiculous nothingness and not knowing what day it is and not getting out of pjs but I also really love being done with it.

Ruby told me yesterday she wasn't going to be able to go to school because she would be sick today. Ha!

I woke up and Ruby was immediately up. I refused to let her out though. I'm trying to exercise in the morning before she gets up so I have more kid-free time for work. After I finished exercising, I let her come out. We played with her toys and cuddled. It was pretty nice.

I woke up Maggie at 7:15 and everyone got ready for the day. We got in the car (still stinky) and drove to Maggie's school. We were a few minutes earlier than usual but NO ONE was there. Like not one kid standing outside. No buses. No cars in the parking lot. Hmmmmmm. . . turns out I just assumed school started on Monday, but it's a teacher in-service day and school starts tomorrow. I didn't want Ruby to know so I just said, we're too early and we're going to drop Ruby off first.

Also, Ruby has been carrying around a purse that was Maggie's. It has a heart tag and Maggie had written her name on there. Ruby had it this morning, in the car, and she said, this says my name. I said, no it's Maggie's name. And she said, but we all have the same name. I said, yes we all have the same last name but it's Maggie's first name. Then Maggie said, here I'll fix it for you. She found a marker in her school bag, marked out Maggie, and wrote Ruby on there. Oh be still my heart.

When I dropped Ruby off, at first she was nervous. But then she saw Miss Octavia (oh you should hear how she pronounces her name!) and she ran up to talk to her. She barely said good bye to me.

I told Maggie she had won the lottery and there was no school today. She was so happy. We came home and I took Spot on a walk.

Oh! I got pictures of our new foster. They've named him Jay and he's supposed to be super sweet. He has to see the vet and get fixed. His appointment is Tuesday at 8 am. I can't wait to have him.

Maggie used up her screen time by noon and had to entertain herself some other way. I informed her she cannot bug me because I have to work and do stuff. But actually we ended up having such a nice day. I still did all my stuff. I cleaned and exercised and worked and she was just around and we chatted. I helped her cook her lunch. I did quit working early and we watched a movie together.

As soon as the movie was over, I went and got little Ruby. She had to hug every single kid. Have I ever mentioned how all the kids at her school (and a lot of kids at Maggie's school) call me Ruby's mom (or Maggie's mom)? Like exactly that. "Ruby's mom, did you know Ruby. . . " I love it. It's so cute.

Once we got home, we took Spot on another walk. We talked about our upcoming basset, Jay. When we got home, I cooked up the rest of the burger mix. I don't have anymore buns so I just kinda sautéed it. Or maybe fried it. I don't know. It was good. Ruby ate the rest of the lunch Maggie made but Maggie ate some.

We played Candyland and, because Ruby caught on so much quicker, it was actually like playing a game. About this time, it was clear how sleepy everyone was. But it was way too early for bed so we watched a movie. Not ideal but no one fought or cried. Oh wait that's not true. Well, it was probably less so than it would have been.

After the movie, I had the girls take a bath. Then I put Ruby to bed. Maggie was so stressed about school tomorrow. I guess the reprieve just upped her anxiety about the whole thing. I finally just put her to bed early.

Tuesday

Ruby woke up early again this morning. This time I didn't go in until I knew her green light was on. She was annoyed but we went over the rules again. We had 30 minutes of playing and it was blissful. It was so sweet and I only focused on her and it was great. We played with her unicorns again but this time, for a little while, one was Grandpa (they are usually me, her, and Maggie or, rather, Mom, Sister, and Baby). Oh my goodness, turns out, Ruby has a Grandpa voice and it cracked me up.

Eventually it was time to wake up Maggie and go to school. Luckily, this time Maggie's school was actually in session.

I came home and took Spot on a walk. Buddy has started chasing after us and crying at me. I don't know what to do with him. I tried putting him back inside. Actually on Monday I just handed him to Maggie. Tuesday I tried putting him inside, but he rushed back out and caused the garage door to stop. He got distracted and wondered off and by the time he realized I'd kept walking, he couldn't see us anymore. I hate it when he's out too far. He's definitely not smart enough to be too far from home. People will think he's a vagrant. A fluffy vagrant.

Speaking of Buddy, I always tell him how handsome he is. I was telling him and Ruby asked, am I handsome too? I said, of course, the reason I never call you that is that people tend to describe girls as beautiful and boys as handsome. She paused and said, well I'm a boy too. Ok.

Grandpa got the girls from school. I got Ruby to do her Grandpa voice for Grandpa. Unfortunately, the second she said one word, me and Grandpa were cracking up so she wouldn't do it again. It's so cute.

Nothing too special this evening. Bedtime. Harry Potter.

Wednesday

Ruby keeps waking up early. I don't go get her but I don't understand. How is she ALWAYS awake before me? I'm getting up more than an hour earlier than usual and she's still up. Does she sleep? Is she awake all night?

We played unicorns again this morning. This is the best. It's about 30 minutes with just me and Ruby and we play and cuddle and it's so sweet and special.

So I don't want to jinx myself but I haven't been sick since October-ish. After the last round of illness, I bought several bottles of hand sanitizer and put them all over the house. I use them and wash my hands a lot. And I chase my children with them and make them use it. I even made up a song to help Ruby wash her hands or put on hand sanitizer. Are these things connected? It's possible. Wash your hands more and you might get sick less. #themoreyouknow

Oh I got texts about Jay last night. He has lots of issues. He needs to be fixed and possibly some other thing that I don't know what it means but has to do with his gentleman parts. He has heartworms. He needs shots. He can't do any of those things until he gains weight though. So he'll need lots of love and treats.

I made tabouli and that was a fail. Maggie did eat it but she told me she didn't like it.

Thursday

Another bad night. Ruby!!! I took the globe off her overhead light (because, for some reason, the chain for the light is inside the globe) so she can't turn her light on in the middle of the night.

I got Jay today. He is so skinny. I saw pictures but it's shocking. His paws and nose look ginormous on his skin and bones body. I'm going to fatten this boy up.

Here's the cats "meeting" him.

The girls were thrilled to see him. Maggie liked getting him to run around but she doesn't actually touch dogs anymore (not sure when that started). Ruby covered him up and gave him kisses and hugs.

Christmas vacation is over!

Tuesday

I was so tired when Ruby woke up. I just put on TV and fell asleep on the couch. I finally made myself get up at 9:45 am. Maggie got up a few minutes later. I called to get the car jumped and drove to Firestone to get a new battery. They didn't charge me since I was there like a week ago.

Next we went to a body shop to get an estimate for fixing the car. What a pain this whole thing is.

We came home and watched movies and read and I don't know until Jill woke up from her nap. We went to Laurie's for New Year's Eve. It was Laurie and Jeff et al, me and mine, Angie and her kids, Mickey and Bryan and Vera. It was very fun. The food was great. The kids mostly had a good time and weren't too awful.

Riley, Angie's older daughter (she's 12), played so sweetly and the whole time we were there, with the babies. They loved her.

We had already decided we were spending the night. The roads get scary on NYE. It was not a good night for sleep. We let all the kids stay up until 8:30 pm or so. Ruby and I were sleeping on an air mattress in Ella's room. Maggie, Ella, and Vera slept in Jill's bunkbed, although Vera left at some point. I could not sleep. I was up until 4 am and then Ruby was up by 6:45 am.

Wednesday

We just went into the living room and I turned on cartoons for her and tried to sleep. It had been soooooooo cold in Ella's room but I fell asleep quite quickly on the couch. All the rest of the kids were up a few minutes later.

Once Laurie and Jeff got up, Laurie wanted to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. It was very fun. And we just laid about all day. I was planning on leaving at 6 pm but they wanted me to stay so we could keep laying about, which is my favorite. So at 7:30 pm I went home to tend to my pets and they put the children to bed.

Then we continued watching Mrs. Maisel and Jeff made his famous drunk nachos (he calls them that). That night we slept in the office and it was much warmer and I was out immediately.

Thursday

Ruby was up by 6:15 am. Back to the living room. No one got up for a while. I got Ruby water and a banana and went back to sleep on the couch. Jilli came out around 8 am. She told me Ruby woke her up and I said, oh no, but then she said, well I got up and went potty and came out and then Ruby wanted me to play. So, not exactly.

The little girls started getting bars at this point. Then, the big girls got up and Ella was convinced that Ruby had Nutella. She asked her and Ruby said yes. But Ruby has no idea what Nutella is, so I'm sure she just said whatever she thought Ella wanted to hear. So Ella decided that the kids could have candy. She got the candy box down and I don't know what all was eaten. Yes, I was on the living room couch for all of this, but I was asleep. I woke up when Jeff was yelling at Ella about it. Yikes.

Grandpa came over to see all four girls at once and we left when he left. Fish and guests start to stink after almost two days.

Speaking of stinking, while driving home, on the on ramp from 360 to I-20 W, the traffic suddenly slowed way down. There was mud everywhere and pretty high, which was weird since it hasn't really rained certainly not enough for that much mud. But a couple of cars had spun out on it and everyone else was going slow. So we get about half way through when the smell hits us. That, my friends, was not mud. I don't know how it got there but it was a poop mountain. Oh the smell. You've never smelled a smell like this smell. When we got home, it was still god awful. Why? Because there was poop all over the car. I took a hose to it and got most of it off, but it still wasn't enough. I knew I'd have to take it to get cleaned in one of those drive thru car washes.

We came home and I cleaned and we watched movies. I made spaghetti. I put Ruby to bed on time and she passed out. Then I was in bed by 8:30 pm. I told Maggie to go to bed by 10 pm because I knew I would be out and I was.

Friday

Ruby was up at 6:45 am. I was going to ignore her but I slept so well I decided what the heck. I did have to go check on her at 11:30 pm. She said she couldn't get her hair out of her mouth. Ok.

We got up and I read and worked and knitted. Ruby played and watched TV. Oh the amount of TV we've watched.

I made the girls get dressed and brush teeth and all that fun stuff and went to get in the car for the car wash and guess what happened? Come on, guess! THE EFFING CAR WOULD'T START. I could have cried. I tried to figure out what to do since I'm supposed to take the car to the body shop next week. Eventually I decided I'd pay the $100 to investigate the problem. It would take a long time so I'd be needing a rental for at least a week (including during the body shop).

Then the guy shows up to fix my car and he tells me it's not the battery. Or rather, not the car battery. The battery in my key fob is out. That's what I need to replace. It cost $8 (because I had to buy a 2-pack) and took less than five minutes.

After that we went through a car wash. It smells better but it's not great. Poop is really sticky, I guess. Ruby was amazed by the car wash.

We mostly stayed home after that. We watched Guardians of the Galaxy. Maggie is so funny. She doesn't want to watch the movies in order. After we watch each one, she wants to watch the next one of that group (like GOTG 2, instead of the next movie in the whole Marvel universe) but no! They have an order and then she loves the next one and wants to watch the next one in that group.

Ruby freaked out about 30 minutes before her bedtime. She was screaming and crying. I was trying to avoid putting her to bed early but it was no good. I had to practically drag her to her room and rock her for a long time to get her to calm down enough to go to sleep. It was crazy, I'm not sure what happened. Too much sugar? Overtired?

Saturday

Grandmo came in town. She got here bright and early. With donuts. We hung out and chatted and played and ate. Grandmo eventually needed a nap since she'd been up since 2 am.

She has a cabin at a lake now and invited us to come up this summer. Summer vacation on a lake sounds pretty nice.

I am going to try to make my kids more vegan food. I read a book about the best things I (or any individual) can do to combat climate change. They are: reduce driving, reduce flying, and eat a plant-based, vegan diet. I already eat almost all vegan (Christmas vacation not withstanding), but I am hoping to get a few meals my kids will eat. I checked out a cookbook and promised myself to really follow the recipe.

First recipe was burgers and I bought sweet potato fries to go with it. The burgers were really good. Maggie ate an entire burger. Ruby refused to even try it, but that's just because she's a punk. So, we'll keep trying and experimenting. Even if they only eat a few vegan things, at least it's expanding their palate so they'll be more likely to enjoy vegan foods.

After that, Maureen took the kids out. She took them to Goodwill and then Joe's to get dinner. I read. It was glorious. They brought home dinner and everyone ate. After that, we watched Lilo and Stitch. Then Ruby went to bed and the rest of us (mainly Maggie and me) finished Ant-Man (guess what Maggie wanted to watch next? the next Ant-Man).

I made Maggie go to bed by 9:30. School starts soon!

Sunday

We woke up early. Grandmo and Maggie had slept on the couch, so I woke them up and sent them to my room. Ruby ate the last two donuts and we puttered until 8 am. As soon as Grandmo woke up, I went and woke up Maggie. She'll have to get up early tomorrow.

I got word from the basset rescue that there's a new dog that needs a foster home. He appears to be much younger than Puddles and he's so skinny. Poor bud. He needs to see a vet first and then he'll come live with us.

We met Laurie and Jeff and their kids and Angie and her kids for brunch at a Mexican restaurant. It was very yummy and so fun to see everyone. Each family has two daughters.

When we were in the parking lot, I was telling Jeff about the poop mountain and the awful smell and we noticed there were a bunch of flies on my car! Ugh. It's getting better but jeez.

At home, we watched Captain America: Civil War. After that, I made dinner and we attempted to eat together. Maggie said she wasn't hungry yet and Ruby didn't want to eat either. Oh well. It's a process.

After that, we played games. Sort of. Ruby refuses to learn how to play any of the games but she wants to play which makes the whole thing difficult. It wasn't so bad.

Maggie and I read Harry Potter after Ruby went to bed. She was exhausted and fell asleep immediately. Back to life!

Holiday Haze

Friday

I can't remember what we did all day on Friday, probably nothing. Maybe something. Not sure. Eventually we got cleaned up and met up with Laurie, Jeff, Ella, and Jilli and Bryan, Mickie, and Vera at a great pizza place. It has a big patio that opens onto a huge playground area. The kids ran like crazy.

Ruby kept picking up arm fulls of rocks to bring over to me. There was another little girl, with blonde curly hair, named Ruby. Maggie took her book to the center of the playground and read. Then she took a break to draw in her sketchbook/diary she got for Christmas. Better than the (not so) old days of screaming and crying when she needed a break.

The food was fantastic. We decided to go over to Laurie's afterwards, even though it was already close to Ruby's bedtime. The kids basically ran wild. Bobby, SJ, and J Leigh got there a few minutes after we did. We left at about 8:30 and Ruby stayed awake for the whole ride home. She fell asleep as soon as we got home.

Maggie and Ella have been begging for a sleepover. We decided not to do it that night because there just wasn't a lot of room with Bobby and his crew there too. So, we're going to actually attempt to all sleepover on New Years' Eve. We'll be able to do the fake countdown with the videos on Netflix and sparkling water or juice. We'll see how it goes.

Saturday

Ruby got up at exactly her regular time. Of course. No sleeping in for her. We puttered for a little while and then got groceries. Then we woke up Maggie and left for Grandma's house.

Ruby hasn't been out there in a while so she was thrilled. The drive down she was obsessed with finding animals. Once we got out there she was blown away by the goats and a horse and kitties and a dog. She was in and out and very happy.

Maggie would not leave Amanda's side, as usual. Amanda was so sweet to both girls. Grandma and Trent played and cooked. We had an amazing lunch, that my kids barely touched. I was only slightly annoyed. I feel like we never stop eating. It's hard to eat a meal when you are constantly eating, but that's the holiday haze.

The girls opened presents and we got everything together to head home. Ruby kept saying, can we come back tomorrow?

Once we got home, I tried for a nap. I think I might have slept for a few minutes. Ruby came running in at one point with "bloods." She actually did have a cut on her little finger but she had no idea how she'd done it. Their Dad came and got them eventually.

I went to Benito's for dinner with Laurie, Jeff, Ella, and Jill, Mom and Mark, and Bobby, SJ, and J Leigh. It was yummy, even though I wasn't hungry because I'm always eating. Mom and Mark went home after dinner and the rest of us went to Laurie and Jeff's house. We had a great time. I even stayed the night and no one woke me up.

Sunday

As soon as I turned on the light in Ella's room, Jilli opened the door. No one but her and Ella were up. We went into the living room and I asked her if she knew how to use her parents' coffee maker. Turns out, no. Luckily, Laurie was up not five minutes after me and she turned on some coffee. And she made the best cinnamon rolls ever. Uncle Steve came out too and everyone just hung out.

When I left, I noticed my rear car window was open and the door wasn't quite closed. The light was on all night. Saturday night when we left Benito's, Laurie's girls wanted to ride home with me. I remember Ella asking me if she could roll down the window and I told her no. I don't know if she did it anyway or it was accident or what happened.

I came home with the intention of working but instead I took a nap. My kiddos got home around 6:30 pm. Ruby had slept in the car so she stayed up a little. She will be so happy to be back on a regular schedule. That's the beauty of this week. It's glorious to never get dressed, eat nonstop, forget what day it is. And then it's not and you're so ready to get back to normal life.

Monday

Ruby slept in a little. She wanted to finish Moana and then she decided to try The Jungle Book. We've read the book a million times but never seen the movie. I drank coffee and worked.

Laurie texted and said Angie had free passes for friends so we could go to Six Flags with them. I was supremely lazy but I knew it would be good for the kids to get some fresh air and exercise. We got all ready and dressed and in the car and. . . it wouldn't start. OH MY GOD!!!!

Basically we just went back in and I made a plan for getting everything started the next day. What a pain. Dad tried to come over and jump it but he couldn't access his terminals on his battery. After that we watched Captain America: Winter Soldier.