Whatever you celebrate this spring, I hope it's been a good one for you, as well as peaceful to you and yours. And now, I'm going to disappear down a rabbit hole and forget that I was awakened by a nine-year-old little boy squealing that the bunny should be under the bed hiding chocolate for him... Gotta love the excitement he's showing because it's the first time in his life that he's recognized this holiday.

                                                                                  

*waves hello* Welcome!

You've got them, hon, lost my dad to colon cancer which could have been treated more effectively treated had the doctor talked to him about his options instead of just telling him that he had it and there was no hope because Dad was basically out of luck due to his age and previous health history (diabetes, thyroid disease and high blood pressure). I don't know who the doctor was but if I find out, you can bet I'll be waiting some night to chew his butt like bubble gum, to say the very least.

We watched Totoro again for like, the fifteenth time ever. My son loves it so much we got him a winter hat made to look like Totoro and he's worn it faithfully every day to school and back, which says something because he hates hats.

mlc is one of those who can pull your tail out of a kink even WITHOUT using WD-40, she's just awesome like that. But she has one habit that makes me nuts and that's hiding the stinkin' RUM!!

SimDiva, show me where to get the images and a PM of what you want. I have a program that I can make the bedding desired, I do believe. It's been some time since I made any but it's easy and I remember how to do it. I use the Lucas Easy Bedding Texture Creator, which I got years ago from Aussie Topenders Sims 2 or some such site, I believe they're still in existence, so here is a link which will get you there is you should wish to try it for yourself. If not, shoot me a shout and I'll see what I can do.

http://www.aussietopenders-sims2.com/

Those are the ones you carry a big stick for. Not advocating violence, but just having the stick can make you feel better. Oh yeah, feeling feisty on a Monday just rocks, you know?

People like that shouldn't be working with the public and if at all able, show up there in person and speak to whomever is in charge of Human Relations at that company. Call back Monday and maybe ask to speak with someone like a manager and if all else fails, send in a written complaint about the person managing the phone on that particular day and the time of day. Also, sending snail mails complaining about the way you were treated can be quite effective. Lights a fire under the arse, so to speak. Good luck! (And no, we didn't get the loan through that particular bank, as an update to that saga. We aren't giving up and neither is the couple selling the place, they want US to get it, which is very encouraging.)

I'm seriously thinking about waiting until the supervisor calls and tells me that the worker has complained (AGAIN) that she can't get the boy to work with her and then dump everything I know. The gal has asked me for suggestions and then has no intention of using them, so why I wasted my breath was way beyond me. We've tried everything from the parents leaving the two of them in the family room during their working time to us having to ride herd on them to keep him from beating on her. He plain does not like her and I've told the supervisor that and if she doesn't listen to me this time, well, I'm not without options. I can change service companies and will should the problem keep on. It's gotten to point where every time she has to work with him, she's either late or she'll call half an hour ahead of time claiming to be sick. (I don't mind, he gets more out of Sesame Street than he does working with her! And then we work with him as well, so meh!) I know the supervisor will be calling me next Monday to check up on things, and she's going to be getting an earful. Such as having them work weekends without checking with US to see if we've made other plans? Nuh uh, that don't fly.

It's been a heck of a year here, as well. February third marked forty years that my mother has been gone and while I miss her still and cry when that anniversary comes around, I now at last have a picture of her and my dad together, and I get to see the joy in my parents' eyes that they always displayed when they were together. That look in his eyes died with her and I never again saw it while he was alive. Seeing that brings it back and I'm glad to know that my parents honestly loved each other and that is what brought them together. It's hard to describe to someone else but it is there, in that photo and I'm so grateful to have it. While it was hard to let go of Dad when he was so ill, I knew he wanted to be with Mom, and I respected that. I know in my heart that those two are at peace at long last but I still miss them and always will, til it's my turn to go. But I've also learned that when you lose someone, you have to go on and not close yourself off. If you don't continue certain celebrations because they remind you too much of the loss, that's OK. God, do I ever love my pastor for letting me know that, I used to feel so guilty about that!

And on the best note about the Little One of the house, he's totally potty trained, YES!!

I'm waiting for the cat of DOOM, Mortie, to jump down on my shoulder from her perch up near the ceiling. She's my cuddle bug, my teddy bear and my main hair dresser on most days. I'm also taking a break from packing things up because once we get the clear signal that we get the bank loan for the house we're looking at, we are OUTTA HERE! *fist pumps* Once she hits the ground from my shoulder, it will be the turn of her older sister, Rattles, to land on me and demand some attention. She's fully recovered from the wound that almost killed her two years ago and rules the house. Her odd-ball of a son, Ash, is sitting on my slippered feet and just daring me to wiggle a toe. He's my husband's spoiled little brat of a cat. (He's an odd-ball because he was born breech, with me serving as mid-wife, had to give a gentle pull to get him born, and while his mother and aunt, Rattles and Mortie, are tortoise shell, he's marked like a seal-point Siamese, complete with blue eyes.) I'm also listening to my son tell me all about Thomas the Tank Engine because right now, he's the hero of the week. Yes, I still miss my Suzie and Magoo and they'll always be in my heart, as well as my Shih Tzu, but these three keep us entertained, to say the least!

Frankly, I'm dreading the day he looks the one woman in the face and says, "I don't like you, go home." He's become so open about expressing things in the proper syntax that it scares me. What bothers me the most is that after she leaves, he backslides quite a bit. The gal has NO CLUE on what it takes to engage his attention and she has no game plan of what to do when she arrives. He refuses to use the flashcards, or the learning games, won't do craft projects with her and prefers to chase the cats down the hallway until one attacks him back and then pins him to the floor by sitting on his head and grooming his hair. Yes, my cats are all addicted to grooming the humans and have the firm belief that feline saliva is the ultimate in hair gel. And she uses BABY TALK with him a good third of the time, despite his making it clear to her that he does NOT like it. If a kid tells you, "I'm NOT a baby," loudly and vehemently, are you going to keep doing it?? No, you're not. She's going to college to work with kids like him and yet, she won't listen to what he is interested in? *beats head on desk*

The loan appointment went well, it looks very promising. The house we want is small yet has features the place we're in now is sorely lacking in, such as closet space! We have ONE closet among three people. We don't even have room for a dining table here or TV trays. ECCCCHT! It would be a perfect spot for a single person and we've made do for as long as we can, but now that he's gotten so big and is making such great progress, it's time for MORE. He's one step away from being able to shower unsupervised by his father or me.

Another gripe?? Eye doctors who only work three days out of a week, if that. Grrrrrrrrrrrr. What is up with that? And why are the frames for eyeglasses so bloody expensive?! Still, it will be worth the expense if I'm able to read things smaller than the usual newspaper print once again instead of needing a ruddy magnifying glass. That gets distracting, to say the least!

I'm not looking forward to the weekend, the mil from hades is coming to spend some time with us; which means locking herself into our son's room and not coming out except for maybe an hour while she's here. Honestly, she treats it like a hotel up here. She arrives, winds the kid up for an hour and makes him mad, then holes up away from everyone and spends most of her time chatting on her phone with her other grandson. Half the time, she leaves to spend time with him and doesn't come back, leaving our kid to wonder what he did wrong. She only comes up here to get away from the moron she married because she doesn't want to be there when he gets home from work. When we ask why she remarried him, all she does is shrug and say she has no clue. It's getting to the point where we're ready to tell her that if she's coming up to see us, leave the cell phone at home. It's not fair to our son when she claims to want to spend time with him and doesn't, plain as that. And when she is out here with us in the family room, all she does is brag about her other grandson and constantly compare the two kids. Sure, our son is autistic, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings that she is hurting. Oh, and she seems to think that we're going to let her use my car constantly once the struts are replaced. Um, NO. Just no. Life is so much less irritating when people use their manners when they visit others and don't act like they need their butts kissed all of the time...

My vent today is that I'm going for my first eye appointment in ten years or more and I'm not sure what to expect. To say that my sight is draining faster than a glass of water in a dust storm is putting it mildly and we're worried about what that could be saying. I don't want to have to turn in my DL because if my son gets sick at school, I need to be able to go after him. Another thing? He FINALLY gets a home worker whom he really enjoys working with and fully engages with and the company laid her off, what in the heck was THAT all about?! He's made some marvelous breakthroughs now that we had a comprehensive team comprising us, the worker and the school and now they break that up?? What in the heck are they thinking? Or are they thinking at all? Also, today we're going to see if we can get a loan in order to buy our dream home, complete will fully fenced in back yard which will enable the kiddo to run and play outside in the summer without fear of him bolting. I hope we can get it, the benefits of the move would be awesome. Too much to say right now, we're about to head out the door, but will let ya know.

I usually use SimPE but it can get tricky and if you don't know what you're doing, it can break the heck out of your game.

You could also use the Clean Installer on it when putting the house into the game, it will wipe out custom content.