July 17, 2009

• manic ramblings

  So, whose idea was it to send the kids to camp downtown Seattle when we live in the suburbs?  Oh, yeah, it was my idea. Well it was a dumbass idea I’ll tell you that.  Taking the kids in and out of the city is a huge pain in the ass.  When I have the kids with me I can take the carpool lane and we can get there in twenty minutes.  But once I drop the kids off I can’t take the carpool lanes. Also, driving in to get them takes very long because I am alone and, again, can’t take the carpool lane. It’s been completely hit or miss.  I’ll go at the same time on different days and sometimes zip through, sometimes sit for an hour.

  The thing is, since I don’t have to be at work or anything, I have the time to take them here and there. And they are totally loving camp, which is very gratifiying. But then I just can’t really get much else done. Well that’s not 100% true, I can get some things done, but I have to hurry and I have to be forcefully motivated.  Which honestly, I’m not that into right at this particular moment.

  I’ve had a few effective days this week when I’ve been working on my playroom project.  I want to take all the kids’ massive piles of plastic junk and assorted miscellany in the playroom and GET RID OF IT.  I want to put in some swings and some floor mats and pillows so the kids can bounce off the walls in there and do “occupational therapy.” I want to attach some fold down tables like so…

  
  … or Norbos as I like to call them, and mount them on the walls so they can use them as work tables for schoolwork or crafts or whatever and then tuck them out of the way. I want to pare down the games and toys that they no longer use and store them away or give them away.  A ton of progress has already been made.  I also cleaned out Eli and Sam’s closets so we can put some toys and games in there.  I think it’s going to be good. 

  In ukulele news, I have vastly improved my instrument by changing the strings which I did all by myself. I am so proud.  And now for a crazy, mostly unrelated, ukulele story.  Sarah and I were driving home from ukulele shopping (her birthday: very soon) and we saw a man standing at the side of the road.  He was a vendor of sorts.  The kind of vendor who stands with his wares near the highway entrance with useful impulse items one might grab while sitting in traffic. I’ve seen guys with flowers and things like that. Also squeegee guys. Well this dude was standing there with at least half a dozen… (wait for it) … neon ….. UKULELES! Individually wrapped!! We passed by him so quickly, we thought it might have been a mirage.  Traffic was moving too fast to stop.  But WHAT??!!  Man selling ukuleles by the side of the road? Are they currently a hot item that many folks would lean out their car window to purchase? How much was he selling them for, I wonder! Perhaps I could have bought them for my whole family!

  Ukulele anecdote #2: I had signed up for a lesson for this past Tuesday and I was very excited to get a formal lesson. Sarah said she’d take the lesson with me and the scheduling guy on
  the phone said Sarah could use one of theirs for the
  lesson. There is a lot you can learn on your own. Youtube is an awesome resource and I’ve really enjoyed Doctor Uke and Ukulele Underground not to mention Ukulele Boogaloo.  There’s a ton more. You could surely teach yourself, but I don’t know.  I like to have a teacher. I like to have an expert to ask questions. So we showed up at Pacific Music on Tuesday for our 2:00 lesson.  Keep in mind, I had to be in Seattle to pick up my kids by 4. We walked in and the gentleman at the counter seemed a little nervous. Tim, our teacher, was not there. The man pulled a dusty ukulele off the wall and handed it to us.  I seriously don’t think that thing had ever been in tune.  The manager at the store kept trying to get Tim on
  the phone, but it seemed as though he wasn’t reachable and probably
  wasn’t coming. We killed time by trying to tune the uke. I clipped my digital tuner on it and Sarah and I took turns fiddling with it.  I gave the tuning keys a few solid twists and couldn’t get it to sound normal.  I handed it to Sarah and looked away and then BOING!!!!  There was this big noise and Sarah looked like she was going to throw up.  THE ENTIRE BRIDGE of the instrument ($50 “vineyard” something-something) POPPED OFF.  It was hanging there by the strings.  Sarah held the instrument out in front of her and stared in horror. Her eyebrows said: LET’S GET OUTTA HERE and she started edging toward the door.  I took the broken uke and handed it to the manager. “This seems to be broken,” said I. And “I guess we’ll be going since our teacher isn’t coming.  Good bye.”  And off we went.  Y’know they haven’t even called to apologize.  I guess we need to find a new teacher. And I’m thinking we probably won’t be buying a ukulele in that shop.

  Hm, and speaking of customer service did I tell you about my Crocs?  A few weeks ago on the Croc website they had a sale on my favorite Mary Jane style which are apparently going out of production. (Boo!)  I ordered two pair, for about twelve dollars total. (Bargain!)  I also ordered a pair on sale for Eli. Several weeks later (more than ten business days) two out of the three arrived, with no explanation about the third.  According to “my account” on their website, I ordered three. Hmph! Finally, about a week ago I decided I’d waited long enough and called.  Turns out they were out of the army green Mary Janes when they shipped mine, so they’d just sent me the one pair. (Again, Booo!) I wanted two pair at the fab sale price. Weren’t too many colors left I’d like. (Mango? Fuschia?) But we managed to find a pair in navy blue that would do the trick, and wouldn’t you know it the dude said he’d send them to me for free as a token of their appreciation for my patience as a customer.  Hooray!  Free crocs! They arrived yesterday.

  

  Cute, eh?

  I read the Autism/ADHD diet book today and pretty much had a panic attack about making all those changes at once. Not sure why I freaked out so much.  I think reading the whole book at one sitting was too much for my brain.  We’ve already made a lot of changes and introduced new foods that the kids really like. I know gluten free/casein free is really going to be fine, and is very likely to help my kids’ brains and bodies feel better.  I think what stresses me out most is my own horrible eating habits. I just worry too much about what I’m going to eat that I become paralyzed and just don’t eat. It’s really not so great. But my kids. They’ll be just fine. I will explore my weird food issues in an upcoming episode.

  And now I am off to bed, or at least upstairs to practice my uke a little bit more. My fingertips are peeling! I will get a pic of that tomorrow. You’ll be impressed.

  Good night!

  • 1:09 am
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