Distracted By Something Shiny

Dismal Halloween this year. So cold, like 35F, windy af, wet. And then halfway through trick-or-treats, around 7, it started snowing. Ugh. Last year we had 150-200 kids. This year was 15-20 kids. And for some reason Sis bought a bag of candy where half continued nuts - which isn’t a good idea anyways since something like 40% of kids these days have nut allergies - but I hate things with nuts in them (I like nuts, I hate biting into something & having pieces of something else inside, idk, I’m weird about it) & Sis is watching her sugar intake, so like half the giant bag of candy ended up going into her office even though everyone there was like, “No don’t bring candy into the office,” a policy I think Sis actually started! Anyways I sat in the big picture windows in my outfit, but only one person noticed and it was a dad, though at least he thought I looked cool. Bummer night.




Though my costume was sweet!

But...the weekend before Sis, BFF & I had taken The Niece to her first convention! (Her brother is mad she got to a con before he did, even though his first con will be a comic con and this was just a family Halloween convention, there were lots of cosplayers there though). There was a Killer Car Show, which I was psyched about. There was free candy at every booth almost, which TN was psyched about. I ran into an awesome cool vendor I met this summer at the Festival of Oddities (you may need pics from that at some point to fully understand the crowd and the fare at something called Fesival of Oddities). I may be nursing a small crush on her, plus her art is amazing. The League of Justice cosplayers were there, a charity group that cosplays at events & runs to raise money for various things, and does children’s hospital visits etc. Their Joker let the children kill him over and over and was just as dramatic about it as Joker would be. Though TN was way more blown away that she met Poison Ivy and then Ivy saw her later and called her by name, “Hi, Jojo!” and waved as she walked past. No, that’s not TN’s name but the night before we took her to Target and she got a JoJo Siwa costume, some kids’ popstar I’ve never heard of. But a couple other kids there noticed her costume and shouted, “She’s Jojo Siwa!” and TN was maybe the proudest she’s ever been in her life. “They might think I’m the real Jojo Siwa!” She made everyone call her Jojo all day. They also had a simulation of the Monsters Inc scare training room, that TN & Sis did together to practice scaring kids in their beds like the MInc characters. They had a recreation of the Greedo scene from Star Wars where you played Han Solo’s role...I am forbidden from showing you the video of Sis doing it. There was a magician that had all the kids gathered around his booth while he did tricks. There was a creature creator creating on the spot.

It was lots of fun. I dressed as a creepy little ghost girl with her creepy little doll, and this zombie lady, who was one of the heads for the zombie walk taking place the next day, literally, I mean literally, begged me to come back for the walk. “We need you and this costume tomorrow!” I mean, look at her makeup and outfit? I was honored someone with this skill level liked my outfit. I didn’t wanna kill her buzz by telling her we couldn’t come back because we had my uncle’s memorial the next day.

( Pics of the Halloween con under the cut. )

Anyways, it was an all around fun Halloween convention. I heard about it on FB last year after the fact, so I’d been waiting all year for it. It was worth the wait and even better for taking TN. Hope your Halloweens had better weather than mine, or at least that you got to a fun convention!

Unfortunately I can’t post the pictures that go with this story here - I did post them on Facebook because the niblings parents allow that, but I don’t post their pics here because they don’t know any of you & my brother is understandably cautious. My rule has always been no pics of anyone without their - or their parents’ - permission. But I wanted to share the story, because I am so proud of The Nephew (12 now) & Niece (almost 6).

This weekend we had special family fun time at the arcade! Our local bowling alley has a new arcade, about 30 games or so, pretty cool. We had the kids for a few days over Christmas break, so we took them and we all had fun! Here’s the best story though...

( Under the cut for spaceage. )

I’m exhausted after 3 straight days of kids up in here, followed by a D&D gaming session over Skype with The Canadians, but it was a great week. Tomorrow I have a string of dr appointments, but Tuesday I finally will get to rest, lol.

I know one can - and I do - crosspost from DW to LJ, but is there a way to collect my tweets from Twitter and get them onto DW? I know people can do it from Twitter to LJ. I want to go from Twitter to DW and then from DW to LJ. Yes, I have turned into one of *those people* who wants everything connected. Except my Facebook. IRL people follow my Facebook and they must never know of my secret identity or the undignified double life I lead!

Ion, I am at the end of Day 12 of a 16 day influx of family. It started when The Nephew arrived to stay so he could go to daycamp (near Sis' work, so she did the dropping off/picking up) and then blew up when The Canadians arrived, plus a few extra kids over the holiday weekend - all 4 niblings plus Little Girl Cousin. Had a bonfire at vet-tech-cousin's to watch the fireworks from her front yard on the 3rd, 11 adults & 8 kids. Then the annual 4th cookout at my house - started 6 years ago with 15 people, this year we had 45 + 2 dogs, one of which was a 10-week old Dotson. And now we are down to me, Sis, TCBro, TCNephew & TCNiece, plus 4 cats and, for the night, the 10-week old Dotson puppy, that we are dog-sitting.

My life is madness, people!

Doodling here while I watch cartoons with The Niece. Death to 2016. Hope for 2017. I showed it to The Nephew & Sis and said, "See, 2016 is dead. 2017 is gonna be better," and Sis said, "Uuuhhh, are you sure about that?" and I said, "No, but I'm gonna pretend I have hope." Anyways, I'm starting out the new year with a terrible sore throat and cough, but The Nephew and I will be staying up to watch the ball drop in Times Square because he's never seen it before. I hope however you are celebrating, or not celebrating, that you have a good night and that 2017 brings you good things.

Art by me. 12/31/2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

So, we had The Niece and Nephew this weekend and The BFF came down to give them their Christmas presents. She spoils them, you know. Her nephews live in Australia, so she adopted our niblings years ago.

She got The Nephew - who is 10 ½ now - a remote control flying Millennium Falcon. IKR?! The ship itself is made from styrofoam, but it was still a big present for him. He got really good at flying it too. We let The Niece try flying it, but that was a mistake - she got it all the way up to the top of my bookcase and then knocked my Dr. Malcolm picture over and broke the frame. Oops. We also took it in my room to see what the lights looked like in the dark and we tried putting a Lego guy on top of it and it totally flew with him on there!

( Under the cut for spaceage. )

It was a way busy, but fun weekend. Basically on Saturday they went Christmas shopping with my sister and to see Moana and then got presents and had that epic Pony play. Afterwards The Nephew told me, “This was kind of like the best day.” Awww.

There is a little bit of time left in my timezone to call it June 15th. Those of you that were friends with my sister back in her LJ days - before she abandoned the internet for non-green, boring pastures - you probably still get reminders that June 15th is her birthday! Mom's nurse was out today and was all, "Oh, it's the other daughter's birthday, how old?" And I burst out laughing and said, "Too old to be answering that question."

So Saturday we did Chuck E Cheese, which was a birthday for The Nephew, Little Girl Cousin and Sister. Sis went to the kiddie section with The Niece, while BFF and I supervised the other two. LGC wanted to play jackpot wheels and roulette style games and I started cutting her off after three plays because that girl was gonna run though her tokens like woah. I told her she has a gambling problem. TN mostly wanted to play video games. They gave me two tokens each (how nice, lol, out of the $30 I spent on tokens for them!) to play skeeball. It got serious when I stood up from my wheelchair to throw better!

Then today I set the table on the new back deck (yay!) and it was a chore, because of steps down and trying to carry things and I had to ask Mom to help a few times. Plus, it was too hot out, but Sis really wanted to eat on the new deck. I ordered surprise dinner from Pizza Hut - chicken milan pasta and artichoke spinach dip - and set the table and she got to come home to that. Plus, she got one gift tonight - a new expansion to our card game, Smash Up - so she could have something to open. We ate outside and our cousin came after a bit to see the new deck and say 'happy birthday'. Then on Saturday she gets her real present, what she was asking me for for months - tickets to see the traveling Broadway show of Book of Mormon. She could never get tickets on her trips to NY, so now it has come to us, only about 30 minutes away, yay! So we will see the matinee of that on Saturday.

Tomorrow I have to spend basically all day at the cardiologist, for a new patient appointment. I really hope they don't make me wear a heart monitor for weeks, that sucked before, very inconvenient. And Friday evening Sis is throwing a party for a co-worker who is leaving the office. I like the co-worker, he's cool, so I will attend at least for a little bit. But I don't wanna use all my spoons with the play the next day. (also I really know only like a couple of her co-workers, so...). And then Sunday is Father's Day. We're taking Dad a pizza from his favorite pizza place here in town that he hardly gets to since he stopped driving.

My energy bar will be down in the red, for sure, but all my work getting dinner set up tonight was totally worth it. Anything for my sister is worth it!

I didn't want you guys to think I had fallen off the face of the Earth! Or, more likely, that I was sick or something. No, instead I have just been really busy. Sis is off work this week, her stay-cation week, her week of rest, her week to stay home and live the dream of doing nothing. Saturday she actually stayed in her pjs all day and basically did nothing. We watched a ton of TV and she played her video games and lazed around. Sunday, unfortunately, she always has to run all the errands. She does all our errands, all of Mom's errands and all of Dad's errands, including all the grocery shopping. Not so much rest that day. On Monday we had some time set aside to work on my cosplay - Brother's having a costume party! - and take me to PT, but otherwise, a chill day. Except, apparently, Sis was done resting! Cuz I wake up on Monday and she is like, "Uh, I invited hiyacynth and Munchy P to come visit. They'll be here this evening." Which, AWESOME - I'd been bugging them about coming! Otoh, 'resting' - Sis keeps using that word, I do not think it means what she thinks it means. And we had already arranged to have The Niece for a few days, as Brother and Sis-In-Law wanted some alone time for SIL's birthday and The Nephew is at camp this week.

So, basically, it boiled down to this: Saturday, rest. Sunday, errands. Hiyacynth and Munchy (age 4) here from Monday evening until Thursday morning. The Niece (age 2 1/2) here from Wednesday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. BFF here Wednesday afternoon and evening. Little Girl Cousin (age 11) here from Thursday morning until Friday afternoon. Monday, PT. Wednesday, PT. Friday, pain clinic appt. Saturday, Brother's costume party. Sunday, catch up on last week's TV with Sis. Monday, eye doctor appt all day. Tuesday, catch up on my last week of TV watching. Wednesday, PT. Thursday - The Rest Of My Life, sleep.

But, no, it's been TONS of fun!! The first time Niece has stayed here without her brother, so bedtime is a screaming fit for about 10 minutes for Brother, Mommy, Daddy. She actually does this every time, it's just her brother is usually here and being the good kid that he is, he stops what he is doing and helps tuck her in and stuff. Otherwise, she's been all smiles, she is so fricking cute! I have a lot stories to share too, but for now just wanted you to know where I was and all. Hope your weeks are all going good too!

OMG, I have so many comments to catch up on and I was gonna do it today, I swear, but...then I didn't. It's been a crazy few days. On Friday I had one of the worst flares I've had in a long time, like almost went to the ER, took an entire pain pill, kind of thing. Made it through that, still felt pretty bad on Saturday, but went to see Pitch Perfect 2 - (so much fun, you guys!) - and then came home and got right into bed. Been watching a lot of baseball since it's on and I'm immobile, more or less. (Tigers are doing pretty damn good this season!). Sunday felt better and then bam...started my Awesome Time Of Month, which actually probably explains the flare up being extra bad. Then on Monday I had both PT and counseling and today I had a meeting with my social worker. I swear, being disabled is a full time job.

Also yesterday, my sister took off work to watch my brother's kids so he could have an emergency appointment and testing with his rheumatologist because he is having groin pain bad enough that he thought he needed to go to the ER. But his doctor just wanted him to come to the clinic. I guess they are worried it may be a kidney infection, IDEK. He couldn't even stand up. The kids were happy though - The Nephew got to miss school and they both got to play in the wading pool with my sister. Docs are sending my brother for a bazillion tests this week, like today and tomorrow, no waiting cuz they are worried and he is in pain and not really able to care for his daughter, which he needs to be able to do. I'm not overly worried that they will find something terribly wrong, but I do want him to feel better - he has too much on his plate to be dealing with this.

So, yeah, crazy week, but for the next two days I am just trying to take it easy and save my energy for my birthday trip to the zoo on Friday! So if I do get around to comments, it'll be from a spot on the couch!

So, my sister has been home sick for two days now, poor boo. She has a severe sinus infection and a UTI. Anyways, if she gets over it soon enough, The Nephew and The Niece will be spending the night on Saturday. It will be the first time The Niece - (now 2) - has ever spent the night. She was supposed to come by herself, because apparently the kids can get rowdy and fight. My brother was telling The Nephew the other night that his sister would be spending the night here as a trial run - (she will be staying for a week in August, while The Nephew is at camp and her parents are at Mackinaw Island for their 10th anniversary) - and explaining to TN that he wouldn’t be coming, so he didn’t throw a fit about it. The Niece is listening and says to her dad, “Unh?” and he goes, “That’s right. You get to spend the night at Aunts’ house, by yourself like a big girl.” She kicks her feet and yells, “NO,” then points at her brother. Her dad says, “No, not Brother, you. You get to spend the night at Aunts’ house.” She yells, “NO,” again and keeps pointing at her brother. Her dad goes, “Do you want Brother to stay with you, is that the problem?” and she slams her fist down on the table and yells, “YES!” So it looks like they are both coming.

The last time they were here, I gave her a birthday present - adorable stroller/tricycle - and she got pushed around the house in it and loved it. They had to leave it here because there wasn’t room in their car right then. For the last few days, it seems she has been bringing her brother’s bike helmet to her dad and asking him to put it on her. He has no idea what is going and finally asks her why she thinks she needs a helmet. She tells him, “Bike.” He says, “Your bike at Aunts’ house?” and she says, “Yes!” He asks her, “Are you going to ride your bike when you spend the night at Aunts’ house?” and she gives him a big smile and goes, “Yes!” So I guess she’ll be riding her bike while she is here.

Seriously, you guys, how did I get such fricking adorable Nieces and Nephews?

I never would have thought The Canadian Brother was spontaneous. I mean, he was when he was younger and freewheeling and single and got on a bus and went to NY to make it big in the music industry, but these days, with a wife and two kids (ages 3 & 4), a dog, a job and a mortgage...yeah, not so much with the spontanity. But I returned home from PT on Thursday evening to find a phone message from him that said, "So, uh...TCWife might be starting a new job and we looked at our money and we really can't afford it but if she starts this job, we won't be able to visit until next year, so...uh, if it's okay with you, then we will get in the car tomorrow and start driving and be there sometime on Saturday."

So...The Canadians are here!!

( More under the cut! )

Anyways, I should get this posted and hide the IPad before they all get back from the Detroit Zoo. The kids are gonna wear down my battery on this thing, I swear!