Laura

Which I need to remind myself of, when I'm feeling put-upon about the things we've had to pay for this year. The car we had to replace was 20 years old. The crawlspace water incursion required a rain event that would have been unprecedented 15 years ago (and we are now well protected against any such in future, because we know there may be more!).

The refrigerator we just replaced was 15 years old. And it failed in the most polite way it could have, really. It had a water/ice dispenser, and the tubing for that developed a crack. AFTER the cut-off where it draws from the wall, so it only leaked when dispensing water or making ice; we didn't even have to turn off the water at the wall behind it, we could just disable those two features.

I'd have fixed it - it just required a long run of proper size tubing to replace clamp-to-clamp - except, well. 15-year-old fridge. Something else would have failed soon-ish, and it might have been something that would lead the food to spoil. And anything not a very generic part like the tube (including some of the clamps and mounts I'd have to remove and put back to replace the tube) would have been very hard to get, because that was a Kenmore.

So, yeah. In the immediate term, replacing the tube would have been cheaper. And at some point in the next couple years, we'd still have had to replace the refrigerator, and probably also all its contents. At least we hit a good sale on the replacement.

Yes, I have a list of other things to do around the house when I can. Hopefully we get the money and cleaning and whatnot needed for each of them in turn before they decide to fail on us.

The furnace, washer, and dryer, however, are newer than 15 years and not a current concern. (They've been PAST concerns instead!) The heat pump, sadly, is on the "soon" list, as is the water heater. Those are the two worst, and the heat pump is the more likely to fail soonish. Unfortunately it's also the more expensive, so I may tackle them in the opposite order anyway.

It's always something. And at least I can address these directly, unlike the (waving hand at the world) All That of the current world situation.

Also, how is my youngest starting high school this year???

...though I surely don't post like it. October was lovely and I got a lot of things done around the house and taking care of family health. The numbers are working out for me to just stay home, not go job searching. This doesn't preclude my jumping all over a job if someone points it out and it sounds fun/fascinating/interesting/whatever, but the bar is definitely high there, for now. The work itself would have to be worth the time given up to it, not just acceptable in return for money.

Handy, since our youngest has been home sick from school since Halloween with a nasty cough and fever. Negative for flu, negative for covid, negative for patience. Two doctor's appointments this week (the first was 'probably viral, he should get over it, come back if it is not gone by Friday'; the second was Friday). He's on high-powered antibiotics for it now so we will see how that does.

So far either none of the rest of us have caught whatever it is, or we recovered from it easily. (I *think* I may have actually caught it last weekend? But if so, it didn't last a day for me. Maybe I was just having a bad day; who knows?)

I need to find my cute reusable advent calendars and prep them (I need to start finding them now because I am not sure where I last put them away!) - the boys expect one, and I've been buying pre-made ones the past several years, but that costs more and is less personalized, and this year I have time. So that'll be fun.

Maria (tuxedo cat) managed to get some kind of bacterial or fungal infection on her right front paw, so the vet removed all the fur between her paw-pad and toes on the underside and she's been getting an anti-almost-everything cream 2-3 times a day. About half the times I put it on it's uncomfortable for her, and she growls very seriously - the warning rumble of a cat who is about to shred you if you don't stop. For the entire time I'm putting it on. Without following through on the threat. She really is a fairly well behaved cat.

However, it may or may not do the trick - the ointment - because she's SUPPOSED to be in a cone to keep her from licking it off. It took her two hours to figure out how to remove the cone the first time. Second time she did it in under fifteen minutes and it took us until the next day to find it. So I bought one of those orange-shaped donut cone substitutes. Very cute, off in less than half an hour. So I gave up and I cuddle and pet her for a while after most doses (sometimes she leaves too rapidly) to distract her and hopefully keep it on long enough. Statistically I can get her to be petted for longer than the cone or cone-substitute would stay on.

If I call the vet and they want to see her again to check it, I'm gonna say "I told you so" to the cat. And then I may just order this, because it has me giggling a LOT and I don't think she could take it off:

https://www.amazon.com/EMUST-Recovery-Breathable-Adjustable-Alternative/dp/B0CQX832HN/

Sadly the one with the green body suit, which is more accurate and cuter IMO, does not come in a size other than large, and Maria is not large for a cat.

It's finally rainy. I know the state of the world isn't what I want it to be, including climate and weather systems, but it finally feels like a proper fall here all the same.

So. When I pack a banana as a snack, I take a Sharpie and write a little note on it. Sometimes it's sweet or kind or encouraging.

Often it is, instead, a joke. Usually a corny joke - which around here gets called "a Mom joke" if that tells you anything. :)

So, I think earlier this week but maybe it was late last, I sent them in with bananas that read:

Q: What do you call a fish with no eyes?

A: A fsh!

This is funny, and I thought Ian in particular would get a good laugh out of it. I was right, but I was a little underestimating, apparently. At parent-teacher conference yesterday, his teacher told me he enjoyed it greatly. Then he told it to her a couple times. And he told it to all his classmates, all of whom started laughing. (She's not sure they all got it - some just liked saying 'fsh!' she thinks, or found it funny because everyone else did.) Then they told it to each other. And her.

...I wonder how many parents got to hear about fsh! that night.

There's a variant in our house now - I first heard it from Ian, apparently he got it from Andrew, and where Andrew got it I am not sure.

Q: What do you call a fish with no eyes?

A: A leaky pipe! *hand gestures of water splashing out* FSH!

...my Mom joke has been one-upped, even.

Town Easter egg "hunt" in less than an hour now. Hunt is in quotes because they just set the plastic eggs out on the grass at the ball fields and turn the kids loose age-by-age in separate sections.

Candy, prizes, all that. Yes, we're going. Wish me luck, but this is the only scheduled thing I need to deal with this weekend. (Scott is taking Ian to a birthday party tho.)

And as usual, my instruction to my kids will be: NO PUSHING, whether they're smaller or bigger than you. This is a non-contact sport.

His first year doing it, Ian stopped and opened eggs, and got all of three. He doesn't do that any more, but you know, I'm fine with it if he does. I like watching them get all excited. I don't mind if they don't get anything else out of it.

Some days I feel like I'm in a parenting comic.

On the way to pick up Andrew, Ian had a discussion with me about gender.

On the way home, Andrew out of the blue asked if we will have another baby...because we could play more games if we had another player in the family.

You know you have a gamer when they want a sibling to increase the gaming pool? Sigh.

---

Also? Be careful what you ask for and how you phrase it.

Me, some while ago: "Ian, sometimes you just come up and start talking, but I'm in the middle of something. You get frustrated when I don't listen; I get frustrated because I missed some of what you said. Instead, can you say 'Mom, can I tell you something?' and then wait until I say 'yes' and turn my attention to you, and then tell me?"

Ian, then: "Sure! Mom, can I tell you something?"

...

Ian, now: "Mom, can I tell you something?"

Me: "Yes."

Ian: (Tells me something.) "Mom, can I tell you something?"

Me: "...yes."

Ian: (Tells me the next sentence of the same thing.) "Mom, can I tell you something?"

Etc. This can go on for six or eight repeats.

I asked for this but this was not what I meant! Now to find a way to phrase the correction that will walk it back just enough but not too much. It's hard in the moment, because I'm just sitting there thinking, *don't reply with "can I stop you?", don't*....

Ian has an early chapter book, the Magic Schoolbus and bones. (Inside a skeleton costume factory, not inside an actual skeleton.) He loves it. I am rather tired of reading it to him - I'm not yet in danger of memorizing it word for word, but I have read it a lot. It's been the main - often the only - bedtime book for...well, almost since he got it. (Almost because there were a few other books and they got read for the first time before this one did.)

I am so so SO glad he got it for Christmas. He adores it.

But I'm still a little tired of it. :)

Scott and I are both feeling a bit run-down and off today, so no swimming today after all. (Open swim at Children of the Sea is closed tonight in any case, but we'd planned to go to Canby. Now? Nope.) Luckily, Canby has public swim 1-3 Saturday _and_ 3-5 Sunday, so we can still get plenty of swimming in tomorrow too.

The cookies I baked were a hit, which is good.

A while ago it was noisy upstairs, but Scott was in amongst it and it didn't sound un-cheerful, so I ignored it.

I just went up to help Ian put away a game, and Scott got to enjoy my reaction - the dresser that was supposed to be moved today or tomorrow from Andrew's room to Ian's room is IN IAN'S ROOM. Scott and the boys moved it. It's not a small dresser, and the boys are rightly proud of themselves.

(Sorry for those of you who already saw this on Facebook.)

They are just across the street from the school where Drew has summer camp. There are two summer camp groups there that I know of, the YMCA and the Club K.

Today, the Buddhist temple had a big event (yesterday too, except it did not have as big an impact as it did today). Their parking lot filled up and they directed overflow parking to the school. I hope with permission, but I really have no idea. I got what looked to be a parking space that had recently been vacated in the front, just as I was hyperventilating about being able to park at all, because _EVERYTHING_ I could see was parked up - not just the parking spaces, including the handicapped spots, but also the no-parking drop-off zone in front of the school.

When we left, they had parked up the curbs around the central turning area and even the right turn lane almost to the exit from the driveway.

( More details and blathering and what I emailed and so on )

I have resisted creating one-time-use tags of "common courtesy isn't" and "a little kindness please?" and "how about being mindful of others?" and so on. :P

And of course, the more-than-90-degree heat (and the fact that I have to hike to a back side door, which is NOT related to the parking situation and is normal for pickup here, it's just a longish walk when it's hot) didn't help my reaction. :P

So, Ian's hair blew into his face at the farmer's market on Thursday. He complained. I said long hair does that. He said he wanted short hair.

Lots of confirmation later, he really wanted his hair cut and understood he'd have to wait for it to grow back if he didn't like it, so today we got his hair cut. He didn't like the process, but he loved the results. Drew asked him what he'd do when it got long again and he said he'd get it cut again.

It's so weird to see his face framed by that hair instead of longer, curlier hair, though. I'll get used to it, but right now, so weird.

I miss my free Fridays. But I'm enjoying picking the kids up at the end of the day, sometimes stopping at the park before we come home. And yesterday I walked to and from work. (So why was yesterday the only day so far this month that I FORGOT to take my antihistamine in the morning? lol)

I'm not in the best of shape, IMO, but a mile walk is still very doable and I feel good about having done it. Plus, a commute by foot is a win for the environment.

Thursday, I drove in a little early and was able to leave a little early (although not by as much as I arrived, because heads-down work distracted me, heh) and get to the farmer's market and still pick the boys up on time and head to the park. So very awesome all around.

This morning, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized that, in spite of my not getting any more sleep, the dark circles under my eyes are missing.