It Is Only A Phase

It is only a phase...  Those words are said a lot when you have teenagers.  We are going through what I hope is a short phase right now.  My newly minted teenager is giving me a lot more gray hairs lately.  My daughter and her best friend have become fans of a web series that has quite the fandom. This web series has many characters that have become quite popular at anime conventions where kids (and adults) cosplay. While I understand dressing in character for special occasions,  my daughter and her friend pretty much dress in cosplay almost all the time.   Did I mention that these characters are alien trolls?!  My daughter's favorite character loves cats, and likes to dress like a cat.  She has  troll horns that are cat like, and has a blue tail. She also has short black hair.  My daughter has very long, gorgeous reddish brown hair, which she has been covering up with a short black wig.  She has been dressing all in black with a blue boa hanging behind her.  We get quite a few looks when we are out in public.  I have seen several little kids pointing out that she is wearing a tail.  I know she is just expressing herself, even though I think she looks crazy. Nothing she is doing is permanent.  I try not to say too much, because the more I would fight it  the more she would want to do it.   I am hoping that she will get tired of people giving her strange looks, and decides to be a human girl again.  Then I can say..  whew.. we survived that phase! 

Our Summer so Far...

It has been two weeks since school has ended.  We have been busy surviving our very busy schedule the last few weeks. Here is just a peek of what we have been up to.  

My oldest daughter had until June 13, to finish the classes she was taking online; Algebra 2, British Lit,  Economics and Physics.  She is not the best at time management, so that first week out of regular school was spent online. At 11:53, six minutes before the 11:59 p.m. deadline, she was done with all she could do.  She made it though, and got decent grades.  This was her hardest year, because she had four hard classes at the same time.  Next year should be a lot less stressful.  She has only three classes online fall semester, and only two spring semester.   

The very next day was Kara's dance recital.   This was her 10th dance recital, and 2nd ballet production. Leading up to this day we had several rehearsals, and a dance banquet.  In this picture she is one of the sun beams of summer in the Seasons of the Earth ballet.  

We had a quiet Father's Day, and then bright and early Monday  my two oldest kids started Driver's Ed.  They have 24 hours of class time, and 12 hours of car time.  Over the next few weeks, my kids will be on the road learning how to drive a car.. Eeek! 

We were preparing for the neighborhood garage sale when we dealt with another round of nasty storms on Wednesday.  The scariest storm was early in the morning when a bolt of lightning struck very near our house.  I was laying in bed facing the window. I saw a bright orange light, and heard an extremely loud boom at the same time. It was so loud the house shook, and the sound woke up the entire house.  I looked outside, because I thought for sure our neighbor's house must have been hit.  Their outdoor lights near their garage are orangish in color,and without my contacts it looked a little bit like a fire.  After a minute or so, I realized all was fine, so I went back to bed. I took this picture as another storm was rolling in during the afternoon.  Do you see the angry face in the sky like I do? 

We had all kinds of weather during the garage sale.  On Thursday it was pretty nice, which was good since it was the first day.  Friday, however, was not so great.  It rained for several hours. We sat under and awning wearing sweatshirts because it was so chilly.  I think it was better than last year though when the temps were in the 90's.  My oldest daughter, Kristina, has a gift of Art.  She loves to draw, and will most likely do something with it when she is done with High School.  Kyle sat for her, and in this picture is posing with the sketch she drew. 

This week our schedule slows down considerably.  We might even get to do some of the things on our summer fun challenge list.  Tonight Kara and I went strawberry picking.  We are really looking forward to all the  yummy strawberry treats we hope to make this week.   

How is your summer going so far?  

Am I Disabled?

This is my son Kyle.  If you follow my other blog Pam's Party and Practical Tips, or read my first post on this blog (which will soon be on an About Me page),  you will know that he has Aspergers Syndrome.  We were very lucky in how we found out in stages when he was young, and that he has always been able to get any extra help that he has needed along the way.   Things are a bit different now. He doesn't need much help anymore, but at times  things can be difficult for him. 

A few days ago we had an interesting conversation.... Out of the blue, he asked me, "Mom, am I disabled?".   I was very surprised that he asked me that.   I posted how I responded to his question  on my personal  Facebook page, and I got such a positive response by family and friends, I know I said something right.  I feel that maybe  I should share it here, in case it could help anyone else with Aspergers  who might be wondering the same thing. 

This is what I said to him.. 

While Aspergers might make things harder for him  sometimes, having it does not make you disabled.  You have the ability to be anything you want to be, and do anything that you want to do.  In fact, Aspergers  gives you special abilities that the average person does not have. He is able to see and understand things in a different way.  He is also one of the most intelligent people that I know, something that will help him throughout life. He has a gift for math, and taught himself how to add and subtract before kindergarten.  He is able to solve complex problems in his head, and is getting As in Algebra 2 as a freshman without even trying.    He also has the ability to stay focused for long periods of time on things that he really enjoys, like video games. This may also help him in life, because he is able to beat almost any game, and is considering being a video game designer.   

Then to drive my point home, I opened up a web page that had a list of famous people with Aspergers . Even though I have shown him a list  before, this time he seemed to really listen and understand.  Maybe it's because he is older now, and has learned about most of these people in school. I have to say that we were both very surprised by a few people on the list.   While there is no way to know positively if  some of these historical people had Aspergers, it is "speculated" by basing their known behaviors/mannerisms based on current DSM criteria. 

Abraham Lincoln - Considered to be one of the best Presidents to ever lead our country 

Albert Einstein - Considered to be one of the 20th centuries greatest minds, and one of the most influential scientists of all time 

Benjamin Franklin - a founding father, and according to PBS.org, a writer, inventor, businessman, musician, scientist, genius and more.. 

George Washington - we were surprised by this one!  Not only is he a founding father of our country, he it's very first President  

Henry Ford - an inventor and  industrialist who is a major reason why we are a country obsessed with the automobile 

Issac Newton -  a mathematician and physicist who is another extremely influential scientist. Having a daughter in 11th grade Physics, I know his name name well 

Thomas Edison - One of the most prolific inventors of all time, and the reason why we enjoy so many modern convenience of today   

Mark Twain - A great writer and story teller..  He also happens to be a distant relative 

Charles Schultz - Considered to be one of the most influential cartoonists who wrote/drew Peanuts, one of the most beloved cartoons 

(All three of these modern day extremely successful men, have Asperger traits in common, and are "speculated" to have it.  Even though we do not know for sure, it is not a bad thing to be possibly grouped with them) 

Bill Gates - Entrepreneur, philanthropist, founder of Microsoft and richest person in the world.   

Steve Jobs- Founder of Apple, and hugely influential in how we communicate today 

Mark Zuckerburg - Founder of Facebook, and a billionaire while still in his 20s  

We talked about several people who were on the list.  When we were done, I saw him stand a little bit taller, and get a huge smile on his face.  He now  sees that he is in really good company, and capable of many great things. I just hope he remembers his mom when he earns his first billion someday. :)  

We Survived the ACTs

When you have a high school student in my state, you know the first week of March means it is testing week.   This year I have a Junior, so it was a really big year for her.   On the first Tuesday of March, all Juniors in the state take their ACTs..  Also during the week, they are given the Michigan Merit Exam, and Work Keys test.   These tests have meant a lot of early mornings for my daughter.  Because of the program she in, she normally goes into school much later than she had to this week. I am really proud of her. she made  it to  bus three days in the row before the sun came up. .   When I picked her up after the ACT, she told me she thought the test was easy, and she thinks she  did pretty good..  I don't know if I should be worried or relieved that she thought it was easy.  I guess we will find out when we get her results later this Spring.  

My son who is a freshman, also had to take a test.  His test was not as stressful as the ACT, but it was still pretty important. He had to take the 9th grade ACT practice test.  He was given the test as an 8th grader, and then again this year. He should do pretty good, since he is takes tests very well.  They use the tests they take as freshman and sophomores to approximate how well they will do on the real test junior yet.  

I also have a good update about the mice.   We are in the clear!!  Frappe did not have another litter of babies after her night trying to meet up with Oreo. (pictured)  If she were to have a litter it would have happened by Monday at the latest.  Since it is now Thursday, there are no ore surprise babies. I just love this picture of our cat Reeses, and Oreo.  They really do like to hang out.  Reeses loves the mice, and will often lay near the cages just to watch them. Oreo is just as curious about the cats as they are about him.  I have a few pictures where the two of them  were looking at each other nose to nose.  This picture is great, because they both turned at looked at me at the same time with what looks like a smile on their face.  

There are a few more things that have been going on, that I will be sharing soon.  

Cookies, Cars and Baby Mice

It has been another week of freezing cold temperatures, sick kids, and just general chaos.     Monday was the calm before the storm.  We were on our last day of winter break. They kids had a few activities in the evening, but it was otherwise a quiet today.   Tuesday.. not so much.  

Kara  woke up not feeling that well again.  Since she had been fine the night before, I thought it might be because she was really tired.  I told her that she has missed a lot of school lately, and that she needed to go. An hour later, she called me from school. She said she felt like she was going to pass out in choir, so her teacher allowed her to go to the office.  When I went in to pick her up, the school secretary who have I have known for years told me that she thought Kara might have the flu.  I told her that did not cross my mind, since Kara did not have a fever.  Since Mrs. M sees a lot of sick kids on a daily basis, I decided to give the Dr. a call.  They were able to get us right in.  Her regular Dr. had a full schedule, but one of the other doctors we know, had an opening that morning.  It turns out she did not have the flu.. Whew!  She did have a pretty bad sinus infection though! At least it was something that could be treated, and was not contagious. 

 Also on that day, a road/utility  worker almost got me hit by a train... seriously..  I was on my way to pick up my oldest daughter from school.   On one of the roads I have to drive on, there were some workers working on an utility pole right next to the railroad tracks.   Because cars had to go in only one lane for a short time,  there were two workers holding slow/stop signs on each side of the where they were working. When I got close to the worker on my side,  he turned his sign from stop to slow, and waved me on.  Just as I was almost on the the tracks, the lights and bells started going off. The worker standing on the tracks still waved me on.  As I crossed the tracks the warning bars starting coming down. I had a split second  of panic that my car was going to be hit by one of the bars.  I hear the worker yell, GO!  GO!   I barely made it across without out getting hit by the bars. I am only about 50 feet away, when I see the train go by in the rear view mirror.  Moral of this story..  When the warning lights come on as you are about to cross the tracks.. don't listen to a worker when he tells you to cross anyway..  

On Wednesday, there was more trouble with cars, but at least it was not me this time.  I had dropped of Kyle at Robotics, and I was just about home when my cell phone rang.  I was on a very busy road, and my phone was in my purse so I could not answer it.    I pull over in a McDonalds parking lot to see who called, and saw it was the husband.  I call him back, but my call went to voice mail so I continued on to the house.  He calls back again as I pull into our neighborhood.  This time I pick up.  Seems he is having a little bit of an emergency.   He has run out of gas on a busy highway, on a curve during rush hour.  He asks me if I can bring him the gas can.  I told him that I just arrived at the house, so I could.  I find out he was really close to where I just was when I was on my way home from dropping off Kyle.  As I approached the area I knew he was, I see a car the same color as his and pull up behind it.. As soon as I do, I realize it is another car that had been left on the side of the road.  Because it was rush hour, it took quite awhile before I could get back on the highway to go another quarter mile down the road.  He was very happy to see me. He tells me that he wants me to go as soon as he gets the gas can, because we were in danger of being hit on the curve.   I tried to do what he said, but it was wall to wall cars going pretty fast.  As I was sitting there looking for an opportunity to pull back on the highway, I saw at least vehicles come very close to crossing hitting us, and one was a big truck.. By the time I had a chance to pull out onto the highway he was done putting gas in his car, and trying to pull out too.. We pull out at the same time, and safely made it home.  Moral of this story.. always make sure you have plenty of gas when driving on a busy highway!  

On Thursday, we had a little more fun.  Kara had a Girl Scout cookie booth at a local pizza place. We love having booths there.  It is warm inside, and it smells good.  They only downside, we always end up buying a pizza when we leave.  

This weekend we are on possible baby watch.   Remember a few weeks ago when Frappe had a taste of freedom, well if she did meet up with Oreo during the night, the evidence could show up at any time.  A mouse pregnancy is 18-21 days.  Today is day 19. We don't believe that she is, but we had no idea she was pregnant the first time around either. She is currently running on the wheel, and having a good time with her new female friends.  It is recommended that when you have female mice, that you have 2-3 females.  Female mice are very social, and can easily get depressed when all alone.  After Frappe had her babies, and was separated from the boys, she did appear to be a bit depressed,  Kara used her own money and bought her two friends for Frappe.. Luna (the dark one in the igloo), and Cake (the tan one sitting on the igloo).  Once Luna and Cake acclimated to their new surroundings, she put Frappe in their box for a few short visits.  One night she fell asleep before putting Frappe back in her cage. Things went really well so she has stayed in the temporary cage ever since.  If she does not babies this weekend, all three of them are going to move back into Frappe's cage.  It has been cleaned of any old scent, and since all three have become friends, it should be okay moving into her cage. Frappe just seems so happy to have friends, we don't think she will be territorial. 

I also have an update on Lucky, AKA Spidermouse.   Lucky is now 2 months old and is doing great.  Originally the plan was for Lucky to move back with Frappe once it was an adult.  For many weeks we thought Lucky was a girl.  Then around 6 weeks old or so, Kara noticed it was starting to look more like a male.  Now that Lucky has "matured" it is almost certain that Lucky is male.  Lucky learned to climb about 10 days ago, and does so frequently. He will climb up his water bottle and then do his best Spiderman impression all over the cage lid.  He is looking for Kara. He adores her, and always wants to be held.  He will be getting a wheel in his cage ASAP, so he will have a place for his great acrobatic skills.  

We  survived this week of craziness.. Let's see what this next week will bring..  

My Total Random Week in Suburbia

Have you ever had a week, were it seemed that it was linked with a bunch of random events. Nothing major, but a little thing here, a little thing there.  That is how my week has been going. It started of normally. All three kids got up, and went to school. Later in the morning, I decided to go to Target to look for items I needed for a Lego Movie themed party I am working on.  Since I had to pick up my oldest daughter at a certain time, the plan was to hang out in Target for awhile, and then pick up my daughter on the way home.  My youngest daughter had other plans..   The very minute I go into Target, my cell phone rings..  I hear a small voice on the other end.. "Mom, you need to come pick me up.. I just threw up"  I was surprised by that statement because she seemed totally fine when she left for school a few hours before.   I told her to let the office ladies know that I was going to be a few minutes, because I was clear across town. Since I had made a special trip to look for an specific item, I decided to quickly look before I left.  Unfortunately they did not have what I was hoping for, so my trip to Target was very short.  I got in the car, and looked at the clock.  I had only 20 minutes before I was to pick up my oldest daughter.  I did not really want my youngest daughter to wait 30 minutes in the office while she was sick, so I drove across town to get her.  I quickly dropped her off at the house, and opened the garage for her.  I told her I would be right back.   I then drove back across town again to pick up my older daughter at her school.   Luckily I was only a few minutes late. That afternoon, my youngest daughter threw up for about 3 hours straight, and then took a 6 hour nap.

We get back to the house, and the garage door is still open.  We pull into the garage, and see a giant Robin is flying around, trying to get out.  It is startled enough that it flies to the other side of the garage and tries to get out through a closed window.  My oldest daughter is really worried for the bird.   I tell her that if we go inside and leave the door open, it will fly out on it's own.  A few minutes later, she goes back outside.  She opened the other stall door, and threw small pieces of bread around the door of the garage, hoping the snack would entice him out.  She then came back in, and told me to check on the bird in a little while to see if it got out.    I did check about 30 minutes later and no longer saw the bird. I am assuming it did get out.  

After school my son had to go to Robotics.  It was their last official day of their build before the deadline.  He had been acting weird all day.  That morning,  when he got up, he wouldn't look at me.  He only ate half of his breakfast, and moved very slowly.  He got up from the table,  and looked at the calendar.  He asked me what I would say if he told me part of him had died..  I was like. ummm okay..  I would say, "what in the world did you dream about last night?".   We didn't really have much time to talk, he had to hurry to catch his bus. When he got back home, he seemed more alert. The only problem was, he wasn't speaking English.  They are working on scheduling for next year this week at school.  He has been trying to decide if he should take his required foreign language credit now, or the following year.  He is thinking of taking French, so he whenever I would talk to him or ask him a question he would respond in his "own version" of French.  I would occasionally get a few words in English, but he would not break character and went back to his language.  I picked him up a few hours later, and he was back to himself. He explained to me that he had a lot of trouble sleeping the night before, so he extra tired all day long..  That explains a lot.  

Tuesday had a bit of crazy going on too.. I experienced some major deja vu. 
This is my car stuck in the snow bank in my driveway AGAIN.  I had to climb out the passenger side of the car because I could not get my door open.  

A friend of mine offered to come over and help. I am so glad that she did.  The main reason why I keep getting stuck in the snowbank is there was thick slab of ice/snow pack underneath the snow. My driveway also has quite a bit of a slant that leads to the snowbank. The combination of the slant and the ice causes my car to basically slide into the snowbank like a magnet.  In this picture you case see some of the ice we had to remove to get my car free.. I can't wait until this stuff melts. 

Another big thing that is happening this week is we are forced to think of the future.  We had a meeting for juniors and their parents, to talk about c-o-l-l-e-g-e.  Eek! We are so not ready for this..  A state school starts at $17,000 a year  for tuition and room and board. There was so much information to take in at the meeting.  We are pretty sure she is going to go to a great community college at least at first, because they have a great Art program, and is close to home.  My son who is only a freshman is more likely on the 4 yr state school path.   He is advanced math, and is trying to decide if he should take Pre-Calculus or FST (Functions, Stats and Trigonometry)  It is looking more and more like Pre-Calculus, because he plans on taking AP Calculus. If I  am honest, I really can't help much with that decision.. I don't even really understand what Calculus even is.  He is also stressed because he has to take two semesters of a Visual, Performing, or Applied Art classes as a graduation requirement.  He has to chose from a list of classes, and none of them interest him.  I am trying to get him to take the Web Design Class or Bake Shop so he can help me with coding on the blog, or bake treats for his Cooking with Kyle posts, but so far he isn't  going for it.   He would like to take AP European History or Military History because they sound interesting.   Hopefully we can figure this out, and soon.  The schedules are due in a few days.  

My week is not over yet. We still have a few more days..  I wonder what other randomness events it will bring.   

Snow is my Nemesis

Today was one of those days that  if you didn't already dislike winter, you would hate it by the end of the day.  Snow was my nemesis today.  The snow started falling in the middle of the night.  By morning we had  about 3 inches of new snow on the ground. That is on top of the several feet of snow that was already had.  Around the time the kids had to go to school,  it had started snowing pretty hard again. We had at least 3 more inches of snow by noon,  on top of what we got overnight. All of the roads were snow covered, which made driving my kids to school this morning difficult. 

When it was time to take my other daughter to school, the garbage men had left our  garbage can at the end of the driveway.  It  was sticking out in the street just a couple of inches, which usually is no bid deal.  Our driveway is narrow, only wide enough for one car until you get close to the house.   It was a tight squeeze, but I was able to just get by the can.   I  didn't put the can away at the moment, because I was worried she would be late for school because of how bad the roads were.  I had planned on taking it back up to the house when I got back.  

When I got home, I had a bit of a surprise.  I found the trashcan upside down in a snow bank about 5 feet away from my driveway. It seems the snow plow ran into it when he was plowing the street.  Luckily there was no damage, so no harm done, but it was a pain to get upright, and back up the driveway.    When I picked up my oldest daughter a few hours later,  my car got stuck in the driveway, and I could not get it to turn to go in the garage.  The two of us were able to free it relatively quickly, and all was well. (at least at that moment)  

When it was time to go pick up my other daughter, I backed out of the garage.  My car started to get stuck in the middle of the driveway again.  I have found that if I put it in reverse a couple of feet, I usually can get free and drive it forward.  This time though, I was not so lucky.  Do you see where that blue arrow is?..  that is a snow bank that is over 3 feet high.  My front right tire somehow got lodged in that snow bank, and nothing that I did would free my car. I was concerned about my daughter, because I knew she was waiting for me, and  by that point I was about 20 minutes late to pick her up.  I tried to call her several times, but she is having issues with her phone so I could not reach her. I finally had to give up on the car, and set out on foot.   The school is not that far from where we live, but I had to walk through knee deep snow to get there.  By the time I reached her she had been waiting for over a half hour, and  I was exhausted from  fighting  my way through the deep snow.  Luckily one of the office ladies who lives near us was still there, and she gladly drove us back home.  Kara could not have made it back home through the snow, because she has been having a lot of pain in her knees and legs, and will most likely need to see a doctor.   I probably should have taken a picture of my car when it  stuck in the snow bank, but I did not think of it at the time.  I just wanted to get my car free.   Finally after 3 hours, some ice melt, kitty litter, a lot of digging, and some more help from my oldest daughter,, we finally got it out.  Not a moment too soon, because it was starting to get dark.  As I write this now, I am wrapped up in a blanket. I am still a bit chilled even though I was wearing snow pants (a few sizes too small), a warm coat, and waterproof gloves. 

I guess this day was not all bad. While I was at my daughter's school, I saw this beautiful bird family in a tree near the school.  There were several birds in this tree, and at least a couple of nests.  I was amazed that they were so close to the school, and did not seem afraid of the people nearby. 

Today is just one of those days, when I really hate winter..  How many days until spring??  

BRR! When will Winter End?

We survived the school semester!  Last week my two older kids had final projects and semester exams in all of their classes.  My son managed to get the same score on four out of five of his exams.. We are still waiting on the score of the fifth, which happens to be his best class. The good news  is the score on the other four was a 90! Not to bad for his first semester in high school.   My oldest daughter is doing a program through the high school were she takes some of her classes online.  She does have a habit of procrastinating, so pretty much all of last week was spent catching up on work.  What you are looking at in the picture is her final Physics project.  If you ever need to know how to make a boat out of aluminum foil that will keep an egg afloat, this is how it is done.  We were both pretty relieved that this boat worked. Her first couple of tries did not float.   When you only have a few hours until the deadline, you want your project to work!..  It took me and the kids a few days to recuperate, and it was great not having homework for at least a few days.  Today the new semester started.  Our time schedule will be changing just a bit, and it might take a few days to get used to.  

This week we are trying to survive the weather.  We are currently in the third Polar Vortex of the month.  The weather people are saying that in the next 24-36 hours we might hit our all time record low temperature.  As you can see 748 schools in the greater Detroit area  have already closed for tomorrow, including the University of Michigan.  By tomorrow morning, that number will be even higher.    The lows with windchills could get as low as -35 degrees. and it would be unsafe for people to be outside for long. Kara has been worrying about the wild animals in this extreme cold. There has been a bunny that comes up to near our house from time to time. She sees it's pawprints frequently.  We also had a neighborhood cat come on our porch a few days ago.  When she tried to bring it in to warm up, it ran away. She is worried that it might not have found the way home. We already have a household of full of animals, I am not sure how they will feel if we bring in even more.  

Since it looks like we will be stuck at home the next few days, I will finally have the chance to take down the tree in our front room.  I have never been this late to take down Christmas decorations  before.  There just did not seem to be enough time with everything that we have had going on.  How many days until spring???