Day 4ish - Everyone Settle Down Ranch

Day 4 – Everybody Just Settle Down RanchDay 4, Tuesday, September 7, 2010… my mom’s birthday – how she is on my mind today and how much I miss the laughter we used to share together. The kids and I begin the exciting search for their new school. We eventually find it after I call and admit that the nice lady gave wonderful directions; it was just that I wasn’t being a very good listener. Those of you who know me know I can only really focus on one thing at a time if anything is to be done correctly. I can multitask but it is always at the expense of something. We get to the school, get them all registered – Eliza needs to get two shots which she is not happy about… ugh. School doesn’t start until 8:45 – I’m thinking hmmmm this should be an interesting twist to our world. What in the heck are we going to do in the morning to keep everyone safe and alive for that extra hour and a half before school.The kid’s allergies have been very bad since we got here. I did go across the street and spend three of our ten dollars on some visine, so at least they wouldn’t rub their eyes until they were puffy and closed. I did bring along the allergy medicine, but somehow I have misplaced it. Now we need both allergy medicine and gas… on seven dollars. I manage to scrape enough change together for three doses of Benadryl and fill the tank up to a quarter of a tank of gas… plus I have 20 cents left over in pennies in my wallet. Life is never dull around me; one never quite knows what will happen… heck most of the time I don’t even know.The dogs have decided to call a truce and become friends. The cat is still pissed off at the world and hiding under the bed… her choice I suppose. Of course we unpack most of the day. Franz does some weed whacking then decides it is time to teach his seven year old brother how to do it so that when Franz isn’t around his mom will still have help. Again I almost cry – my baby is growing up. With the support of my boyfriend, Greg, Franz is becoming a bit of a man and less of a boy. He is learning how to take care of his mom a little bit.The kids are a totally ton tired of our moving meals of cup a noodle soup, sandwiches, or you are on your own for whatever you want menu. So I start the morning off with the goal of the day being to have the kitchen clean enough and organized enough to actually cook a homemade meal. Took some effort and concentration on my part so I didn’t wander around doing 10 things and finishing none – but I got there. We (the kids) decided on fried fish for dinner with veggies and rice. My experience with frying fish left something to be desired so I decided to make up a new, one of a kind, my very own recipe and it turned out fabulous! I could hardly believe it. I also made tartar sauce for the very first time in my life – and that was actually good too. We all sat around the table in the living room on the floor to eat, since we don’t have enough kitchen chairs to sit at the kitchen table (someday we will). But I actually enjoyed our little meal in the living room. Lorenzo had decided to direct the conversation over dinner to the topic of “how does one make friends?” The kids had interesting outlooks on the topic and I’m not too sure we helped Lorenzo, but we laughed a lot and it felt good to be sitting together and having family time… no TV, no music… just us and conversation. I knew I had to get outside and “water” after I did the dishes and by the time I got out there… Franz announced that it was already done… taking care of mom again… I almost cried AGAIN. Kids showered to get ready for school in the morning. We sat together and watched Hope Floats one of my favorite movies… although I must admit our family Tigger also known as Lorenzo was bouncing around as usual – so most of us watched the move… well Eliza followed Lorenzo so I guess to be honest I have to say that Franz and I watched the movie. The other two just kind of took small tastes. Excited for school the next day – everyone wandered off to bed. Bucky even got to sleep in the house which made me nervous… but he joined me in bed sometime around midnight. Not my sweet boyfriend, but it worked for me at least for that night.