Scooby Halloween and Conor visited

 Gene found this sweatshirt for Casey for Halloween...

Peggy dropped Conor off at our house the other day.  He wanted to come and visit while she went to DD. He had fun with Molly, as usual, but he also enjoyed the Halloween stuff.  Casey showed him the scary monkey that he got from Spirit Halloween the other day.  Chris bought it for him.  It's so scary that it's funny!  We 'got' Peggy with the sensor activated pumpkin..."It's the one that says "Boo, did I scare you?  Happy Halloween!"  We also had fun with the haunted house that lights up and makes scary sounds.  He got his fill of DumDum lolipops :)  

What I learned today

This is our Wii set up. We also use this for TV, streaming services, DVDs and VHS tapes. We can roll it to wherever Casey is hanging out.  

Positioning can be awkward but it works!

Of course he is on his device (T) too. 

From Writers Group 10/08/2024  (unedited)

Writing prompt: What did you learn today?

Today was a just do the basics day. Eat, drink, feed and water Casey, make his food, do ONE load of laundry (leaving it for the nurse and Casey to fold tonight as it’s their thing they like to do when she works the overnight) No cleaning, organizing, making phone calls or writing emails or returning calls or emails.

It was a me and Casey day. Casey and I spend a lot of time together but I also spend part of my time with him doing the things I mentioned already so it’s kind of haphazard time. I’m up and down from the chair or couch and in and out of the room. Always trying to be productive.

But today I decided I would put all that other stuff aside and just have fun with Casey. I gave him a choice of art, Legos or Wii. He chose Wii very excitedly. We went super old school and picked a Wii game vs. a WiiU game (Wii U was a much anticipated upgrade from the regular Wii). He’s been into Halloween so he picked Ispy Haunted House. I was glad he picked something that is relatively simple and easy because some of the games we’ve played over the years a truly really hard—hard to figure out and hard to manipulate.

So from about 10AM until 3 PM we played. We played and played. He still had his device on and was doing his Googling but we also chatted while I physically played the game. I talked out loud and asked his advice and we were happily frustrated at times and also happily happy when we figured something out.

What I learned today is that I needed that. I needed to just have a little fun and be with my kid. No pressure to work on the To Do list. No nagging Gene to do things (well, except for helping me figure out what to have for lunch), no thinking about tomorrow. And guess what, I didn’t even take a nap! Usually I get that napping feeling after lunch and I go for it when I can.

I’m looking around me and seeing Casey’s room is a mess, wii games strewn about, bed unmade, medical equipment needing to be cleaned and put away, mail to go through, etc. But it will be there when Writers Group is done and it will get taken care of before bedtime. Because, I enjoyed the fun down time, but life goes on and routines need to be continued. But I will remember next time I’m feeling a little burnt out or feeling a little tightly wound that having some quality time with Casey and doing something mindless will bring me back to center and I can be a better me.

Alex’s visit to VT!

 

Best birthday gift--again

 I just got the best birthday gift!  It's not my birthday and it technically is a card, and not a gift per se.  But it was more exciting today than it was on my actual birthday back in 1984--yes, 1984.  

One of our nurses son has a radio show, well, several, shows, and one of them is called Vinyl in Your Pocket where he and his cohost play a vinyl record album and talk about the artist, songs and history.  He was running out of albums to play so I offered up some of our collection.  Gene and I haven't had a turn table in years but we have kept a bunch of records.  I gave Alek a handful of albums and he's played a couple so far (my favorite Zebra album being one of them).  

This morning, Nurse Staci came and handed me an album that Alek had played.  

Wow. I don’t even remember owning this album. But I know it is mine. I know it's mine one, because Gene never would have owned a Duran Duran album, and two, because I peeked into the sleeve and saw a jagged piece of red paper. I pulled it out and my heartrate immediately started picking up as I realized what it was.  I knew that hand writing.  

I know it’s not the best pic but can you see the writing?  That’s my best friend from childhood, Laura’s handwriting. Laura passed away from breast cancer in December of 2017.  In our later adult years, we hadn't been as close as we had in junior high and high school but we always knew that each other was out there for each other.  Laura ended up living in the Pacific Northwest far away from our childhood in Long Island, NY.  I had skipped up to Vermont after high school and have remained planted here.  She was one of the smartest people I knew.  Her dad was a chiropractor and Laura ended up becoming a chiropractor and became a naturopathic doctor.  She was pretty crunchy :)  We may have drifted apart...she getting into the things she loved and I got married and Gene and I had two kids both with a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, type 1.  So both Laura and I were enmeshed in our current lives but we always had our childhood and teenage memories.  Boys, friends, our twin Schwinn bikes, the park, the sleepovers, the parties, the vacations, the music.  And we were there for each other.  

I was still half asleep as I had been nurse Mom to Casey overnight and hadn't even finished brewing my French Press yet.  But I couldn't wait.  I pulled the card from the envelope and my heart skipped a couple of beats.  I had no memory of this card but I obviously had read it since it was ripped open.  

So funny!

I laughed when I pulled the card out. NOT a typical card choice for Laura to have made. 

Here is what she wrote:

7/28/84

Dear Sue-

I always get you a mushy card, the same kind all the time.  For the big 21 I decided to be different. And since this is the year to drink...

HAVE ONE (hundred) ON ME! 

Well, 

HAPPY 

BIRTHDAY!!

Love Always,

Laura

Moooch!!

......................

Oh, my heart!  Swamped with memories and feelings. 

Laura's moniker was Cow.  Actually, we didn't really call her that but MOOO was her byword, her expression, her way of saying hello and goodbye,  When I write on her Legacy Facebook page I always end with MOOOO!  

She ended this card with Moooch, which was one of the ways we'd say Love you/Smooch, etc.   

I don't know what made me peek into the album cover this morning, but I'm glad I did.  

‘Babysitting’

 

How to tell you had a 7-year-old hanging out for 3 hours. 

Lollipop wrap and stick randomly on the counter. 

Cow bell and silly glasses (eye brows and mustache wiggle). 

Red solo cup with Minecraft twisty straw with lots of ice and some water. 

And, lots of playing with Molly and also some Wii gaming!  He picked up the ‘old school’ controllers pretty well.  

He asked to be locked in with Molly!

OG Will: Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp

We can’t forget the old favorite, snake in the jelly bean jar. 

I know Molly will sleep well tonight!  And I imagine Conor will, too, after his fist week back to school and romping with Molly!