{SQT} Unsuccessful Storage and the Joys of Powerchair Ownership

The long grey days of January are here, and while I’m thankful that temperatures are out of the teens (for now) I’m stock piling pudding just in case we’re stuck inside for days on end. I’ve felt immense pressure to write ALL THE FUNNY THINGS, and take ALL THE RIDICULOUS PHOTOS, but frankly, school and personal hygiene had to happen at some point this week, so onto all the slightly ha-ha takes of quickery.  (Send in the minstrel now!)

 

1. I planned to write about my “original” homeschool room storage ideas based on some of the ridiculous homeschool rooms that appear in my Pinterest feed. You know, milk crates vs Crate and Barrel, Craigslist vs Ikea and allowing my books and children’s work to collect in various piles vs anything else. But it became less funny and more of a nagging sense of inadequacy. Once I started wondering how hard it would be to stencil inspiring words over the dirty finger prints I knew I needed to just let. it. go.

2. Since getting her Kindle, Addie is better about emailing friends and family. Like most tweens or, anyone with a smartphone who should know better, she loves using emoticons. She’ll even send me messages when I’m out that are 80% smilies, hand gestures, animal faces and 18% text. (2% punctuation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) While she always uses correct spelling and correct grammar, I told her she should layoff the emoticons, just a bit. To encourage her I started “talking with emoticons”. “Hey Addie, how’s that book you’re reading? Smiley face, thumbs up, lady dancing? I was thinking about chicken for dinner: puking face, cute puppy face, glass of wine?” It’s worked enough to make reading her texts less like deciphering hieroglyphs. (I almost shot a video of me doing this because I was cracking myself up but everyone else was just all thumbs down, bored face, pile of poop.)

3. Byron’s Creeper mask made its way downstairs much to the delight of Fulton. Despite having to readjust his headrest and the difficulty of seeing out of it, Fulton drove around hissing while Teddy repeatedly yelled at him to blow up. While I love seeing them playing together, this is why every corner of my house is smashed up. Even less successful was Fulton’s attempt at completing his reading lesson with the mask on, “No! We’re done with the sssssssss sound!”

4. In other fun wheelchair related news, Teddy’s wheelchair battery went caput while we were out running errands which meant I had to disengage his chair’s motors and manually push him in the house. This is the first time we’ve allowed this to happen so I was shocked to discover, upon pushing his chair, that it weighs a whole heck of a lot more than Fulton’s powerchair. So, on a ramp covered with wet slush, I attempted to push his 250+ pound chair into the house. If you listen to Addie’s retelling of this story, she’ll say I said some….choice… words, which I’m positive I didn’t utter out loud. I did manage to get the chair into the house and hooked up to the charger, and then I died. But no one wanted to help me and hook me up with some wine. With little effort I could easily create an entire workout around caring for the boys and their chairs. Not a lot of ab work mind you, but you’ll have arms and toes of steel for sure.

5. You’ve all been so great about book recommendations; maybe you could also recommend some great mixed drinks / cocktails? We got a cocktail shaker and some bar stuff(?) for Christmas and I’d love to try it out but I’ve never mixed drinks (except that one time) and I’m totally overwhelmed with all the drink websites out there. What alcohols do we need to have on hand? I can pair wine, but where can I learn to pair cocktails with food? Thank you in advance for helping me become the coolest book club host ever. 

6. Just in case you were wondering how that iPad gun I recommended worked out. (Vintage Crossbows and Catapults not required.)

7. We watched EWTN’s coverage of the March for Life on Thursday. My older kids are starting to understand more about abortion and the sad reality that less than perfect children, just like their brothers, are often aborted. The statistic was given that for every ten unborn babies found with some sort of disability, eight or nine are aborted. That means that my sons represent the ten or twenty percent of disabled babies that survive their time in the womb. There are at least 16 to 18 children NOT HERE because their parents learned said child might be disabled. A radiologist spoke about how babies with something as treatable as a cleft palate are aborted. In a society with the greatest medical advancements mankind has ever seen, capable of providing excellent care and quality of life, we are choosing to eliminate these special children rather than allow them to enrich our society. Parents, you don’t even know what you are throwing away. (I mean, did you see the above videos??) BE NOT AFRAID. 

How was your week? Type it out and link it up below! Be sure to use the url of your post, and not your blog’s url. I look forward to reading all your Takes!