TGIM...oh noes!

Construction zone (J)

So...Mondays are big for me. I'm not going to go into why, but I'll just say, it's pretty peaceful around here while the kids are in school and Lovely Wife is at work. There might have been lots of cooking over the weekend, and not a lot of dish washing, for instance.  Today started out with fairly normal chaos.   It worked, and kids were delivered to school.

Ahhh, everything is peaceful.    I respond to e-mails, shop for christmas presents, read other people's blogs.  I search online for how to make the annoying message on my car dashboard go away (thank you Yahoo Answers).  I go upstairs to take a shower and while the water is heating up, my phone rings.  I turn the water off, it's Lovely Wife. "The school called me because they couldn't reach you." Crap.  Apparently, having my phone in my pocket while sitting in the kitchen puts me in a dead zone.   "Ben is coughing and sneezing at school, and you need to go pick him up."

Jump in the car, head off to school. Sign in, and hurry through the halls. Ben is soooo excited to see me.  He climbs all over me as the teacher tries to explain the morning. We find his lunch and his coat and head on out.    I've no doubt that he was spreading germs all over, but for the rest of the day, Ben isn't coughing or sneezing at all.   It's a little annoying...all under the level that I'd take him to a doctor.

walkabout danger: rolling thing that's heavy

I'd like to go to the grocery store now, but Ben is saying "apple juice" and "curious george" and I don't seem to have my shopping list with me anyway.  We pull into our driveway and I fix the annoying message from the car that tells me "Change your oil NOW".   I did that a month ago, but Jiffy Lube didn't reset the car's computer. Ah, feeling of accomplishment.

The day has now changed for me.  My todo list is stripped to include only things that have to be done. We have to go to the grocery store because I can't make Ben's GFCF lunch without it (I'm being hopeful that he stays in school this week).  We have to go to a laundromat because Lovely Wife is going on a business trip tomorrow and our laundry room has been demolished.   I really need to reply to a couple of e-mails too. I send my e-mails and then scurry around checking supplies so I can make a grocery list.

What with Lovely Wife out of town tomorrow, Brother-in-Law (J) and the boys and I are going to have a ManFest for the next few days. We need things to deep-fry and toilet paper. We'll do leftovers tonight, but I should cook some green beans to go with it. We need juice boxes and GF pretzels and rice bars. Better get some broccoli and brussel sprouts, even if we are having a manfest.

Grocery list is complete, laundry is loaded, dry-cleaning is bagged, Curious George is over. Shoes on, jacket on, *ding-dong* the floor guy is here.  He's early, J is supposed to meet him here in half an hour.  He seems like a nice guy. Ben says hello, but is perplexed by the offer of a handshake.  The guy recovers quickly and turns it into a high five, which Ben does with enthusiasm.  Ben latches onto me while I show the floor guy what we want estimated.  The longer we talk, the more Ben wants to go and wants me to come with him.  He has a partial meltdown, but I think I told the floor guy everything.  He takes his measurements and leaves.

walkabout danger: freaking rose bushes

We hop in the car.   It's no longer complaining about its oil, but starts bonging at me that our laundry basket should be wearing a seatbelt.   The bonging becomes frantic but eventually shuts off. We stop at the drycleaner and drop off a bag.  Dry-cleaning Lady knows us and remarks on how big Ben is getting. We drive to the laundromat and the bonging begins again.

I get a Kojak spot out front, take the laundry in, and go back out to get Ben. He wants to go walkabout, but I get him to come inside with a car. The manager is very chatty and has an old black Lab she introduces to Ben.  He does well with it, and manager-lady gives him a candy cane. Ben is quite stoked about this and crunches merrily away. I get the laundry started, retrieve Ben's car from a washing machine, and off we go. We have about half an hour to kill.

The neighborhood feels different today. We usually come here on weekends to play on the school playgrounds. We avoid the school today, since it will be full of kids. We say hello to the lady at the artsy store and an older gent in the red hat moving his trash cans around. Ben is staring at him, like he expects more than a hello.

walkabout danger: wasp nest

Ben tries to go into someone's back yard, then onto a porch. "This isn't our house, buddy, let's keep moving." He finds an awesome curved wall to walk on, and we go back and forth on it until it's time to go back.

In the 'mat, Ben runs to a high speed washer and tries to yarg the door open. I stop him in time. Now he wants candy.  Fortunately, I have a pocketful of reasonably healthy stuff that Lovely Wife picked up the other day. We get our laundry in a dryer and set it for an hour. Time for the grocery store - GO!

Ben wants to go walk about again, but concedes with only a small fight. We make it in and out, then zip back to the house to put perishables away, then head back to the 'mat. Everything's dry, we stow it and I check the time. We have 30 minutes to kill before it's time to pick up Bubba. I get a text from a friend (A) - she wants to pick up Bubba from school and take him to their house for a playdate. Serendipity! Ben and I head home to play with doggies and do dishes.

 Tuesday Update:

We wake up at 5:30 to get Mommy off to her plane. All is quiet in Ben's room. I wake him up at 7:15. He's cute as can be. Sadly, he starts coughing a bit as he gets vertical. Is it just a cold? There's no fever. It could be the inversion, or all the dust from construction.

stop licking the xmas lights!

A quick breakfast, and we scurry off to school. Drop-off is a little awkward. The teacher seems surprised that we didn't visit the doctor yesterday.  I suspect I have unknowingly violated a school protocol.  I drop off Bubba and head home. The plumber shows up and shuts off the water. So much for a shower.

I head to the library and pick up a book that A recommended, go to the bank, make a deposit and get money for construction supplies.   I meet up with J and pass him the wad o cash. I head to Tutoring Toy to find xmas presents for Ben.  My phone rings...it's Lovely Wife, calling from Seattle.

The school called hours ago, while she was in the air.  I have to pick up Ben again because he's coughing.  His teacher is recovering from surgery and is worried about catching something (rightfully so).  I call the school and ask to be connected to Ben's room. A fax machine picks up.   I reach the school and stop by the front desk. They have my contact number as a mix of my wife's and mine. We straighten that out and I head to the classroom.

They're at lunch.   I grab Ben's stuff and head to the cafeteria.  After some apologies, we're out and back in the car.  We need a doctor's note before Ben can go back to school.  I call the doctor's office and get an appointment for 20 minutes later (yay).

I have a lot of faith in our doctor.  He is smart and low-key.   I think he's from Maine.  He does charity doctoring in Africa.  He checks Ben out and says that there's a good chance it's the inversion or construction dust, but there's a chance it's a sinus infection.  The fact that Ben has had a couple of nosebleeds lately points that way. We get a prescription for an antibiotic and a note for school. We get on the road and get the prescription filled (and a sucker).

The rest of the day is surprisingly fun, especially considering the water is turned off. We go on walkabout with falling snow and have an exciting time.  ManFest will begin soon.

Question of the day:

I'd really like to have a spirally ramp that's sturdy and can handle Matchbox cars.  We have this one, but it only works with cars that are a little smaller than Matchbox.  That's quite annoying, since Ben has lost all the cars that go with it and I don't know where to buy more.  I'm willing to build something.  Anyone got tips for me?