Important Life Events

[caffeinated.joy]

Good to see you back, Dasi? Yeah, they grow quick, don't they? I remember when I was taking care of my goddaughter (I was Momma Two for her for years, until she was about six, then I became Auntie Joy), it felt like I would blink and she'd be needing new shoes or something. My favorite age for her was between 4 and six. Those are awesome years.

My grand-niece is turning one in the beginning of August. She was born on her due date - crazy right? She's crawling around like crazy, sprouting teeth by the pair (she hasn't just grown one tooth in a go, it's always two) and increasing her vocabulary by the second. I keep telling my niece to be careful, because Lily's becoming a little parrot and her mom has quite the potty mouth.

[DaSpecial1]

Oh yes those parrot years . That's right, Lily was born a month before mine. They are moving fast.  I'm really enjoying this one--not that I didn't enjoy my others but it all seemed so slow back then. Losing my Mom and (others) has just made me stop to savor more moments each day.

Oh does anyone garden here?  I started one on my back patio. I'm looking forward to lovely platters of home-grown veggies soon. Now I don't have to look wistfully at my sims' gardens anymore .

[caffeinated.joy]

*raises hand* I do! I don't have the space for a veggie garden, sadly, but I'll get there one day. Not only that, but if I tried to grow veggies, my hungry neighbours would steal them all. Right now, it's all flowers. My irises and lily of the valley are in bloom, my mondo grass is going to flower soon, my leatris are getting tall and, hopefully, my mont bresia will bloom this year. I really do need to get a new sedum and a silver mound to replace the ones my well-intending neighbour killed. He thought they were weeds.

I remember when I lived with my parents we had carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peas, asparagus, zucchini, squash, beets, rutabagas, turnips  and strawberries.

We tried to grow blueberries one year but that failed. Oh and the house we had when I was little a huge cherry tree and two plum trees. I live in them when I was a kid. *longing sigh*. My neighbour had a walnut tree. Oh man! 

[Theraven]

We had carrots. I think the biggest one reached about three, maybe four centimeters - in the length. Don't think any of them even came near a centi in the width. Kind of gave up after that...

We had a tiny patch of strawberries and a bit of blueberries, and a mirco patch of rhubarb. But other than that it was mostly flowers.

Dad has greenish fingers but isn't a genious with plants, mom is lucky enough if her cacti and green plants survives. I've got troubles even when it comes to false plants made of fabric (they go all dusty...)

Gran had green fingers in the extreme, though. A huge garden with potatoes, berries (strawberries, black currant, red currant, gooseberries and some others), rhubarb, cherries, and lots upon lots of flowers, trees and bushes. Even a swing tree (she had several at first, but cut down most of them when most of her grandchildren were old enough to not go crazy about it - the final one had to bite the grass some years ago...). A friend of her had the most amazing flowery garden ever.

[DaSpecial1]

My dad was the big gardener in the family.  I did most of my gardening in containers which made him laugh and tell me he'd made a mistake raising me in the city.  Now that I have health issues container gardening is my only convenient option, but really I prefer it anyway unless I have flowers. 

Vegetables are just so much easier in pots.  The pest ratios are definitely 98% less. I wish my patio was screened in--that would be even better, but it's been going very well. Keeping my green fingers crossed that it stays that way.  I haven't done this in years (like 12) or ever in a not-enclosed area so I'm testing the waters this year.

I've got eggplants, tomatoes, two or three different types of peppers, and even cabbages in my mini-garden . My patio is also private luckily.

[hawnsimmer]

I haven't been to this site in months and so glad that I stopped by. I found several messages to me. One from Nonni Thank you so very much for the birthday wish. I truly appreciate it.... and my little girl will be having a little girl of her own 

[Paden]

School let out last week and so far no big melt-downs from my son about it, although there have been plenty of small ones. We're still getting summer time services set up for him so that he doesn't fall behind or regress and also looking into getting some help into the house to help keep things ticking over due to my increasing inability to keep up. Getting old and sick really, truly sucks the big lemon, I'm telling you.

His teacher calls him her miracle student because she started out with pretty low expectations of what he'd accomplish but that was because he was an unknown quantity for her. She was very pleased that she had to reset the bar at a much higher level than originally thought and he'd reached it before the last day of the school year. He got to do a great many things he'd never done before; like attend a pro-baseball game, go to a special two-day session of Camp Courageous, even things as simple and fun as sculpt things out of clay, glaze and have them fired in a professional kiln. (They turned out beautifully and look like the animals they were intended to look like.)

My daughter is still going through a messy divorce, which while I regret it happening, I can see why it's happening. Immaturity on the parts of she and her soon-to-be ex is the main cause, as well as the inability/unwillingness to compromise and forgive mistakes made. They are both in other relationships now and both expecting children with their new partners. I'm hoping that she doesn't lose this baby like the last two, but also know that was due to her medications for whatever it was she was taking them for. I've had to develop the attitude, and communicate it to her, of "if the child is meant to be, it will be." I was pleasantly surprised when she accepted that things happen for a reason, which we may not know at the present time. Yes, there was grief and disappointment, but also much less self-hatred on her part for failing to bring the child to term.

The better half of my marriage is looking for employment elsewhere after seven years working on the dairy farm; last year's accident left him with a bad feeling about the place and he wants out of there. I can't blame him at all. Working nights at more than twelve hours a shift at times becomes wearing, especially when the damn place didn't give him much recovery time after damn near being crushed by a friggin tractor. TWO DAMN DAYS were all he got and then it was back to the grind. They never reported it, they never sent him to hospital, nothing. He was in shock when they were asking him if he wanted to go to the trauma unit (fancy lingo for E.R.) and incapable of answering that question, so should have gone immediately. He's got a pretty good lead on a job, so will let you know how that turns out. I will say that he's got more sense than to quit without having another one nailed down for sure, though.

We also got word back on our son's status for disability assistance, he was approved on the first application, which means additional educational help and the means to pay for it, as well as medical coverage. At least one of us in the household is now able to get a doctor's help should it be required... That's as it should be, he's a kid with special needs while the husband and I are adults who ought to be able to look out for ourselves. We also now have the means to get anything he needs or we require to meet his needs.

Looking back over this, I see a good many ups and some downs but it's all balancing out for the most part, which is a nice change from being constantly going down the toilet drain. All in all, aside from a couple of things, the outlook is positive. It's about bleeding time...

[DaSpecial1]

HawnSimmer wb Happy birthday and congrats to you and your daughter .

Paden I was just thinking about my own rocky roads.  It like a high wire act trying to keep our balance at times. It's good to celebrate when the good even slightly outweighs the bad. It hard to do when one is facing so much but if I didn't celebrate the small victories, I'd spend all my time in tears.

My comp is so iffy right now. I don't have a mouse currently & I'm hoping to get a new graphics card one day--my dang kids have the nerve to want food and shelter atm .  Just hoping it doesn't completely blow before I can replace it.

Anyhoo...watching my veggie garden and my own little baby sprout grow makes me smile everyday.

[Paden]

I got a phone call from my son's teacher yesterday, or at least I thought it was her. Anyways, there on the other end of the line was MY SON'S voice announcing, "Mommy, I read a book to Kate ALL BY MYSELF! I love your, bye bye!" Then his teacher got on the line, I could hear the smile in her voice as she told me that he had read to her in a clear voice with perfect pronunciation and without any help, a whole book. As a special reward, she called home so he could tell me! Last night, as well as the whole week, has been golden for him since school started up again and he has even started to reach out to his peers in the classroom instead of ignoring them. He's grown about three inches, put on maybe ten to fifteen pounds and gone up a good two sizes in jeans. He lost three teeth over the summer, picked out his own special pillow to sleep on all by himself (memory foam, but what the hell, he's WORTH it) and begun to actually wear clothing when company comes over. As soon as they leave, he strips down to skivvies again, but hey, he's making the effort. He's even started to brush his own teeth. I think he's starting to level out, this little enigma of mine, and I'm enjoying more than ever the fact that his dad and I never lost our belief that our little tight folded bud would, in fact, bloom the way we always knew he could if given the time and care needed. While we know some things may likely never change, we're so grateful for the progress he's making and will continue to make. It's the simple things that make me want to cry with joy, like the phrase, "I love you, Mommy," and those mean the most because I've gone without them for seven long, hard years. At the end of the day, those words make it ALL worth it.

[Theraven]

I'm so happy to hear (read) that, Paden

[caffeinated.joy]

Paden, this is fantastic news. As the aunt of an autistic boy, I can certainly understand the challenges and rewards! It's a hard road to travel, but rewarding!

[DaSpecial1]

So good to hear that Paden! That teacher sounds like a real gem. 

[Katie]

That's amazing, Paden! Glad to hear things are going good! 

My sister recently got married, and my niece's new step-father made a vow to "love her forever, " and he said something about how he thinks of her as his own daughter. She's three years old and pouted during the whole wedding, but everyone teared up!

[Paden]

I just found something out and it's making me pretty happy. My daughter informed me tonight that I'm going to be a grandmother sometime early next year. She just found out today at her ultra sound that she's going to have a daughter of her own and already she is dreading the Mother's Curse: I hope your child is just like you as a child!! Muwahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!!

[fatedicewolf]

Congratulations, Paden