This, that, AND the other thing.
Oct. 15th, 2009 01:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altarflameGood: I've lost 17 pounds now. These jeans I bought a few weeks ago were loose right out of the dryer today.
Bad: My belly is looking freakier, I think partially because there is less fat padding to round out the deformities. Also, the deformities may be bigger because I carried Elise around a lot the night that I thought she might have a concussion :/ For about a week nobody asked me if I was pregnant, which I attributed to weight loss and different clothes, but then the last two days I've been asked how many months or whatever twice. So something is definitely different. I'm also wondering if the fat dissapearing means the skin is looser which is causing me troubles as there's even less to hold things in place... *headdesk about how very sexy this all sounds*
Beh: I had a repeat pap smear today. Hopefully this one is not abnormal like the last.
Long shot: my gynecologist has this AMAZING painting hanging in her office - it's a black mother with a big purple headdress on, and the most powerful expression on her face that I can imagine, holding her infant up against her. It's signed "Edwards" and 1992 and has either a $ or an S right above the Edwards. She got it from a frame store so I'm guessing it's not an original...I've done some googling and come up dry. Does anyone know what this painting is called or where it might be available? Google was all she could suggest.
MAJOR: My brother is going to move in with us. Bob is 19 now, and so it is extra hard to "help" him since instead of having to try to fight our mom or his dad or something to do so...now I'm fighting him. Which I have been sort of refusing to do for the past year, because 1. I felt too heart broken over the last time he left us just as his situation started to improve, not to mention the lifetime of failed attempts at rescuing him in general, and 2. My resources are limited and he is a grownup now. BUT. He did unprecedented things, like actually come out and ask me to come, rather than just hinting around and acting gloomy. And make a little out and out speech about how much he appreciates all the help and studying Grant and I did with him for his GED test. And then he said - he, my brother said - that he thinks down here is the best place for him right now because we're (my sister and I and our husbands) the only ones who care enough to really push him to do stuff he should be doing. On the one hand, that is ridiculous and I hate having to nag at my own kids. On the other hand...it's hard to ignore, coming from him. So I talked with Grant and called Bob back with a lot of conditions that he's totally open to? So that is that. He's coming after Dama and her girls leave. My mom is paying for us to go get him, and for some initial shopping for work type clothes.
Overview of my brother: Really bright, sometimes hilariously funny, often sullen, totally undemostrative. Wears head to toe black every day, mostly in the form of enormously baggy pants, combat boots and band tshirts. Can be (literally) shockingly lazy. Is totally escaping to and addicted to the internet, RPGs and online microcosms, like to the point that he blacks out when he finally stands to go to the bathroom, and has major back troubles (!). Bad temper, but not at all threatening towards people, just stomp around looking pissed temper. With some possible minor property damage like stabbing a mattress with a pen or peeling paint up or carving in wooden things. Will do almost ANYTHING I ask, sometimes with faint protests, but NOTHING that I don't. This is a 19 year old who's never had a real girlfriend, or a best friend, or a license, or a job, or an extracurricular activity - who hasn't been in school or in any sort of structure or social setting for probably 4 years now. Loves animals and keeps pictures of my kids in his wallet. Which is on a chain. He loves anime and hard rock and tries to act like a goth and identify as much as he can as masochistic, all via myspace. *shaking my head*
In the last year he lost his stepdad to divorce, his grandpa to death and his mom to full time service to her mother who had a stroke. He also lost the previously-always-open invitation to come here whenever he wants. He's been in a back room at our uncle's house on his computer by night and asleep by day, pretty much never leaving, for at least 6 months now. There is apparently a lot of quiet tension and hinted animosity in the house.
So, we're going to get the martial arts studio that owes us a free year for web services to give it to Bob, and take him to apply to jobs, and make him cut our grass, which is kind of an awesome perk for us actually. And even though Ananda and Aaron had already decided to continue sharing a room, I am still out an office! Which is more dissapointing than it should be, especially as I have room in my bedroom for my desk, and do most of my writing outside of the house, anyway...all of the kids are really excited because they love him to death. Him and Elise really bonded when she was little, he was a HUGE huge help after my last surgery when I couldn't lift her. He basically carried her around all day, slept with her on the couch.
If you feel like praying for him, it is appreciated and I am doing the same.
Social: Aaron has a playdate on Sunday. A and A will be spending the night at Michelle's again sometime soon. Dama and her girls will be here to spend a week in just a couple of weeks! I can't believe how soon it is! November, we're hosting the month's potluck evening dealy for our natural family group. Tomorrow, we'll be at PATH. I think we are going to go to a movie as a family for the first time around this weekend - Where the Wild Things Are, of course. And Laura is babysitting on my birthday so Grant and I can go spend the afternoon somewhere. I've been doing a lot of emailing, aim'ing, letter and card writing/sending, and phone calls this past week.
I feel like I'm sort of coming out of my cocoon. As I first started this eating program, and just entered this most recent period of spiritual growth and God-seeking, I really didn't want to see/talk to anyone especially much (aside from like, church and kids' activities and Grant, basically). I needed space and time. Now it's all good again and that's nice too.
Bad: My belly is looking freakier, I think partially because there is less fat padding to round out the deformities. Also, the deformities may be bigger because I carried Elise around a lot the night that I thought she might have a concussion :/ For about a week nobody asked me if I was pregnant, which I attributed to weight loss and different clothes, but then the last two days I've been asked how many months or whatever twice. So something is definitely different. I'm also wondering if the fat dissapearing means the skin is looser which is causing me troubles as there's even less to hold things in place... *headdesk about how very sexy this all sounds*
Beh: I had a repeat pap smear today. Hopefully this one is not abnormal like the last.
Long shot: my gynecologist has this AMAZING painting hanging in her office - it's a black mother with a big purple headdress on, and the most powerful expression on her face that I can imagine, holding her infant up against her. It's signed "Edwards" and 1992 and has either a $ or an S right above the Edwards. She got it from a frame store so I'm guessing it's not an original...I've done some googling and come up dry. Does anyone know what this painting is called or where it might be available? Google was all she could suggest.
MAJOR: My brother is going to move in with us. Bob is 19 now, and so it is extra hard to "help" him since instead of having to try to fight our mom or his dad or something to do so...now I'm fighting him. Which I have been sort of refusing to do for the past year, because 1. I felt too heart broken over the last time he left us just as his situation started to improve, not to mention the lifetime of failed attempts at rescuing him in general, and 2. My resources are limited and he is a grownup now. BUT. He did unprecedented things, like actually come out and ask me to come, rather than just hinting around and acting gloomy. And make a little out and out speech about how much he appreciates all the help and studying Grant and I did with him for his GED test. And then he said - he, my brother said - that he thinks down here is the best place for him right now because we're (my sister and I and our husbands) the only ones who care enough to really push him to do stuff he should be doing. On the one hand, that is ridiculous and I hate having to nag at my own kids. On the other hand...it's hard to ignore, coming from him. So I talked with Grant and called Bob back with a lot of conditions that he's totally open to? So that is that. He's coming after Dama and her girls leave. My mom is paying for us to go get him, and for some initial shopping for work type clothes.
Overview of my brother: Really bright, sometimes hilariously funny, often sullen, totally undemostrative. Wears head to toe black every day, mostly in the form of enormously baggy pants, combat boots and band tshirts. Can be (literally) shockingly lazy. Is totally escaping to and addicted to the internet, RPGs and online microcosms, like to the point that he blacks out when he finally stands to go to the bathroom, and has major back troubles (!). Bad temper, but not at all threatening towards people, just stomp around looking pissed temper. With some possible minor property damage like stabbing a mattress with a pen or peeling paint up or carving in wooden things. Will do almost ANYTHING I ask, sometimes with faint protests, but NOTHING that I don't. This is a 19 year old who's never had a real girlfriend, or a best friend, or a license, or a job, or an extracurricular activity - who hasn't been in school or in any sort of structure or social setting for probably 4 years now. Loves animals and keeps pictures of my kids in his wallet. Which is on a chain. He loves anime and hard rock and tries to act like a goth and identify as much as he can as masochistic, all via myspace. *shaking my head*
In the last year he lost his stepdad to divorce, his grandpa to death and his mom to full time service to her mother who had a stroke. He also lost the previously-always-open invitation to come here whenever he wants. He's been in a back room at our uncle's house on his computer by night and asleep by day, pretty much never leaving, for at least 6 months now. There is apparently a lot of quiet tension and hinted animosity in the house.
So, we're going to get the martial arts studio that owes us a free year for web services to give it to Bob, and take him to apply to jobs, and make him cut our grass, which is kind of an awesome perk for us actually. And even though Ananda and Aaron had already decided to continue sharing a room, I am still out an office! Which is more dissapointing than it should be, especially as I have room in my bedroom for my desk, and do most of my writing outside of the house, anyway...all of the kids are really excited because they love him to death. Him and Elise really bonded when she was little, he was a HUGE huge help after my last surgery when I couldn't lift her. He basically carried her around all day, slept with her on the couch.
If you feel like praying for him, it is appreciated and I am doing the same.
Social: Aaron has a playdate on Sunday. A and A will be spending the night at Michelle's again sometime soon. Dama and her girls will be here to spend a week in just a couple of weeks! I can't believe how soon it is! November, we're hosting the month's potluck evening dealy for our natural family group. Tomorrow, we'll be at PATH. I think we are going to go to a movie as a family for the first time around this weekend - Where the Wild Things Are, of course. And Laura is babysitting on my birthday so Grant and I can go spend the afternoon somewhere. I've been doing a lot of emailing, aim'ing, letter and card writing/sending, and phone calls this past week.
I feel like I'm sort of coming out of my cocoon. As I first started this eating program, and just entered this most recent period of spiritual growth and God-seeking, I really didn't want to see/talk to anyone especially much (aside from like, church and kids' activities and Grant, basically). I needed space and time. Now it's all good again and that's nice too.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 02:56 pm (UTC)Definitely, definitely praying for Bob. I think the kid's got a real chance at your house. The fact that he wants a chance is a big step. He's probably depressed... it's depressing to be unproductive and stagnant, you know?
It's so strange because I have a ten-years-younger brother Bob too... who is the complete opposite of yours. But I imagine how devastating it could be to see potential in someone-- someone who's bright and funny and secretly gentle and very loving (because who else could carry around a newborn for weeks on end? That was probably the best thing anyone could have done for him) and to see them just gliding through when they could be doing SO MUCH MORE.
Just reading about your home and family is therapeutic :)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 05:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 03:55 pm (UTC)I tend to entirely forget we are going to Disney when I think about the trip. Like I'm completely focused on visiting you, not on Disney. The girls are too. They literally never mention Disney but they ask a million questions about and mention going to visit you guys constantly. It is kind of funny. Makes me wonder why we are wasting the money on Disney. Good thing all these military/deployment specials are making it super cheap.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 04:04 pm (UTC)Teresa
no subject
Date: 2009-10-17 04:59 pm (UTC)Anyway, he DID get them, and he LOVES them :) One has gotten chipped so far, but that's not too bad. Isaac, Jake and Elise all play with them. If you want to send more, I'm sure he'd be thrilled to get mail and to have them. Thank you for thinking of us <3
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 06:00 pm (UTC)