Ketchup, or Catch Up...Whatever!

AKA: A Sunday Evening Rambling Written By A Sleepy Mom

Jeez, where does the time go? How could it have been nearly two weeks since my last post? *Shakes her head in sheer amazement*

Lots of catching up to do!

Yesterday we had The Hubbs' birthday party at our place. His folks came up with JAK, who happened to be in from Ohio for the weekend (bonus!), and we headed over to Dusty's for a little bit of what I like to call Dunch (lunch + dinner = Dunch). My folks met us there and we annihilated two extra-large pies like they were nothing.

I love me a laid-back party. Besides the trip down the street for pizza, we basically just sat around and visited for a while. Sooo nice to have a small group like that...I actually felt like we got a chance to chat instead of flitting from relative to relative without ever having a proper conversation.

The Princess was a monster in the morning before everyone showed up, and I was afraid the whole day was going to be cloaked in screaming. Fortunately she got over herself by the time Nana and Grampy arrived with JAK, and there was actually a good amount of smiling going on for the rest of the afternoon.

Shortly after the cherry cheesecake (thanks, Nana...it was fabulous!), The Hubbs' crew had to take off. We hung with my folks for a little bit before they took off with The Princess so we could go to the movies.

What did we see? Robert Zemeckis’s new 3-D animated version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  We both really enjoyed the film, and I'd recommend it for anyone looking to get in the holiday spirit.  I'm happy to report that Zemeckis has done some fine-tuning on the animation of his human characters, and it's paid off.  They no longer look unnatural or fake...there were actually moments that looked like they could have been live-action during this film.  Jim Carrey and cast did a great job with the voices, and the heart of the story definitely shines through.

After the show we headed over to Culvers for a quick dinner, and then to Borders to walk around for a bit.  While we were in Borders I found a DVD copy of Disney's earth documentary and we picked it up for a discounted price.  Narrated by James Earl Jones, this documentary sports some gorgeous photography and top-notch story telling.  Highly recommended. 

By the time we finished watching our new documentary, I'd had all I could takes and I couldn't takes no more.  We hit the hay and didn't get out of bed until 11:00 this morning.  Ahhh...sleeping in.  A luxury we all forget as young parents.  Well, maybe not forget as much as miss out on.  With The Princess at my folks' place, we were left to our own devices when it came to waking up this morning.  Just goes to show we apparently needed to catch up on some rest!

So that was this weekend...let me tell you a little about our adventure last Saturday.

T had stayed the night on Friday so she wouldn't have to get up at the butt-crack of dawn to get up here for an appointment early in the am.  After her appointment, she and I were talking in the kitchen when The Hubbs walked in and asked if we could go see her place today.

In the city.

That's right.  Mr. City-Phobe came to this proposition all by himself, with no help from either of us.  I snapped to full attention and announced I'd be out of the shower in five minutes.

The Hubbs, The Princess and I followed T's car to the city and got out in one of the most adorable neighborhoods I've ever seen.  She and her guy took us on a tour of the neighborhood, where we feasted on Roby's pizza at the Riverside Pub (I think that's what it was called anyway...note to self: blog on the day of the event so as to avoid hazy memories!).  The Hubbs and I had our first taste of hummus, and are in lub.

The Princess went tinkle in the potty all day long...I only had to change her Pull-Up either once or twice during the whole trip.  Go Kiddo!

There are all sorts of adorable little shops in Roscoe Village, and it's a very family-friendly place.  If we were to move to the city (not a snowball's chance in hell), this is where we would choose.  I'm just sorry it took us six months after she moved in to get our butts down there to see her place!

Work has been, well, work.  It's not getting any better.  Something's gotta give on that front, but I'm not sure what to do yet.  For the moment I'm just hoping it gets better and doing the best I can.

The Princess's new thing is to grab your hand and lead you where she wants to go.  Lately, it seems to be outside more often than not.  Cute?  Yes.  But annoying after a while.  She'll walk up, no matter what you're doing, grab your hand and yank.  If you don't go with her, she'll hit the floor screaming. 

Drama queen.

I recently heard from our case worker with Options and Advocacy, and The Princess's annual evaluation for Early Intervention will be on Friday, December 4.  This is the yearly meeting where The Princess's therapist comes to the house with our case worker and a couple of other people to assess where she is and what we need to do. 

There's potential for a lot of changes, seeing as how The Princess has recently been diagnosed as autistic.  We'll see how the meeting goes, and take everything else one day at a time.  Not much else we can plan for at this point!

Ooh, I put up my Christmas lights on the house last weekend, too.  We got new lights because I didn't love the ones I used last year - they were the smaller clear (white) lights like you normally see on trees.  Cute, but not much personality.  This year we got a few strands of ceramic multi-color C9 lights that make our place closely resemble a gingerbread house.

They look great, but I don't have pics yet.  I'll try to post some in a couple of weeks when we're turning them on each evening...I've only lit them once so far to make sure they work, and we don't have the extension cords all set up yet. 

Well, dear readers, that's about all I have for now.  It's not even nine o'clock, and I'm ready to fall over and sleep until noon tomorrow.  Too bad it's a work day!