that’s it.  i got nothing else.

hey andrew, you still there?  lol

*The picture is my son sharing a bit of spaghetti with Tiger a la Lady and the Tramp.

In October of 2009, it came time to let Lucky move on.  He’s gone to the bridge.  He had lost a good deal of the control of his hind legs and was starting to lose control of his bowel and bladder.  While he wasn’t in any pain, his quality of life had diminished, so we decided that it was time.  It was a tremendously sad day for us, and he is sorely missed.

Thanksgiving, was the same as usual.  He avoided all of the usual dinner items and ate mac and cheese.  But he did play with his cousins a little, which was nice.

Christmas was an interesting time this year.  We went to pick out the tree with mom, and Gage walked right up to one tree and said “Christmas tree.”  Well after searching through all the other trees it turned out that the tree Gage picked was indeed the one we were going home with.  Even better, it was the most perfect tree we’ve ever had.  The right size, the perfect shape, no holes except for the kind that you hang large ornaments in anyway… it was PERFECT.  After we set it up, we had to give it a couple of days to fall,  before we decorated it.  Gage wasn’t having that, apparently.  He got out a basket of jingle bells mom uses for decoration and hung them all over the tree (where he could reach, anyway).  We had to distract him so that we could get the bells off to put the lights and stuff on.  Then he helped put the ornaments on the tree.  It was the first time he’s ever helped decorate the tree.  It was really special.  He had a blast Christmas eve and day, got lots of presents.  He got something really special from his grandparents… a train and a donkey kong game that belonged to his daddy when he was a kid.  It was awesome.  The train especially.  When he unwrapped that, he grabbed the box and ran like he thought we were going to take it away.  It was so cute.

I got a book called the Kid Friendly ADHD & Autism cookbook.  It has a lot of GFCF recipes in it as well as tips on slipping more veggeis and proteins into your kids food.  Some I’ll never try (like putting pureed meat into muffins — sorry, that’s just wrong), but some ideas are pretty interesting.  Actually, I’ve tried one already.  I put pureed cauliflower in his mac and cheese last night and tonight.  I’ve been reducing the amount of gluten in his diet a bit lately, and it’s made a bit of a difference in his behavior.  So I’m going to try going a little further.  Tonights mac and cheese was actually gluten free.  He’s going to start getting only gluten free mac and cheese and spaghetti.  Bread I think I’ll keep as is for now.  But I might start making gluten free muffins for his breakfast, something I can slip some grated veggies into.  He’s also started eating eggs.  A 1 egg omelet with a slice of bacon folded in.  Of course, currently he’ll only eat it if it’s been cooked using bacon drippings.  I’m working on gradually phasing that out. 

He’s doing great in school and being more social.  He’s always trying to play with his youngest cousin.  He likes to run around holding her hand and laughing.  He likes to spin around with her and they have a good time when they’re getting along.  It’s so cute.

 Anyhoo, I’m doing ok.  The boyfriend mentioned awhile back is no more.  Hopefully we’ll stay friends, but let’s face it, how often does that work out?  C (the “boy toy” that preceeded boyfriend) has expressed interest in adding benefits to our friendship again, but I don’t know that I want to go there.  I’ll be 34 years old in a few weeks, do I really want or need a friend with benefits?  Don’t get me wrong, it was mighty fun to be able to say I was “nailing someone 10 years my junior” and it was VERY good.  But I just don’t know if that’s something I want right now.

My car is on its last legs, I’m hoping to save up enough for something decent before it dies.  If I don’t manage that, I’ll be borrowing mom’s bike to ride to work every day.  Which will be mighty fun in the dead of winter.  I actually found a used 98 Corolla, which is something that I used to drive and LOVED.  Hopefully, when I’m ready to get something it’ll still be available and in good condition.  It would be nice to have one of those again, it was my second favorite car ever.  My favorite was an 81 civic.  When I got my current car, I actually found one for sale but it needed an alternator.  When I called around to see what getting one put in would cost, the estimate was more than the asking price on the car.  I wish I’d gotten it anyway.  If I’d talked to Joe about it, I probably would have.  Alas, i was stupid about it.  Maybe this time I’ll do better.

Yes, we start today’s blog with a quote from Clerks.  God I love Randall.  Anyhoo… Maybe I should change the blog title to “bitching about work” and invite a few people to guest post from time to time.  That could be amusing.  Something to think about, anyway.

Seriously though, as much as I bitch about my job, I really do enjoy it most of the time.  I just like to bitch about the ultra-annoying customers or the ultra-rude customers from time to time.  Mostly because they represent (to me) one of the biggest problems with the world today.  A complete lack of courtesy.  I can tell you that it’s very rare that a person in line at the grocery store, who has a large order, will let a person with only a few items go ahead of them.  Usually when it happens, it’s a Senior Citizen who is extending the courtesy.  Somewhere along the way, we’ve become a very “me first” society.  Whatever happened to “do unto others?”  And these same people who wouldn’t so much as offer a stranger a quarter if they’re a little bit short wonder why they keep getting hit with so much bad karma.  Well kids, that’s what happens when you don’t put out a little good karma.  It doesn’t take much… let someone ahead of you in line if they’ve got a lot less than you.

One of the coolest things I ever saw at work… a couple of weeks ago, a young man paused after I rang him up and proceeded to bag the groceries for the elderly woman behind him.  Then he put her bags into her cart and offered to help her to her car.  When she thanked him and said that he really didn’t have to do that, he told her that he hoped that someone was being as kind to his mother when she went shopping.

Nice things like that…  You get what you give folks.  Just something to think about.

Halloween approacheth.  I’m contemplating 2 costumes for Gage.  Either a pirate or an engineer (as in train).  Depends on which one I find a cuter costume pattern for, I think.

And then we come to MY Halloween costume.  I simply can’t decide.  On the one hand there’s Dr. Shots who, by all opinions I’ve gotten so far, would be the hit of the party.  Particular if I have a generous supply of, well… shots to go around.  The other one is the Trophy Rack, which isn’t so much a costume as it is humor.  It’s highly humorous, actually, and I think it would be quite fitting.  But I also think it’s a little tighter than I’m prepared to be wearing without a body shaper underneath.  I’m still weighing the pros and cons, but I think I’m leaning more towards Dr. Shots at this point.

I think that’s it for the moment.