Part 41 ~ The Adventures of King Ben & Zeus the Big Dumb Dog

If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.

The Bounce was at the ridiculous time of 2:30AM. I told him there was no way that I was getting up. It was too early. Then he wanted his tablet and kept telling me “Gramma to do it. I need help.” ARG!! Yes, I got up and got his tablet. His determination is stronger than my tolerance for that anxious tone of voice, especially at O’Dark Thirty. I did refuse any further forays out of bed though. I also managed to doze, so that’s good. I was awakened by him jumping up and down on my bedroom floor and making everything rattle. (my room and his room are elevated, with a hollow space underneath. I’m telling you, this house was cobbled together in a slapdash way) It was 5:00, a more reasonable time.

During the interval, he was pretty quiet or I was a lot deeper than a doze, maybe both. When I went out to use the bathroom and get his meds, I saw his latest chalk creation. It must have taken some time

Also, my bed was full of Hello Kittys again.

While I was in the bathroom he decided it was time to move the party to the living room. I moved his Kittys back to his room, made my bed, grabbed my stuff and headed to the coffee pot.

I uncovered Sven, turned his lights on and had to laugh. His poor head is still peeling. This has been going on forever, hasn’t it? Poor Sven

After I took the picture he walked over and stood IN his food dish. Okay, okay, okay… I got the hint. I got him some fresh kale. The arugula and cilantro had to be tossed. I even added 4 small blueberries, they’re starting to go bad too. Our fridge has too much humidity. It’s from Ben slamming the door open past where it should open. EVERYTHING gets broken or jacked up.

Daughter texted and arrived at the usual time. When she invited Ben to her room, I told her that wasn’t necessary. I knew she was tired after only sleeping 3 hours (and she has her Skype interview this afternoon with the hospital), but she said it the routine now. Okay by me. I told her to go right to sleep, that I would be listening for him.

They took off down the hall and Zeus and I went back to my room.

Daughter must have gone right to sleep because Ben was commanding me to the living room less than an hour later. I didn’t even have to get the chalk, he’d never dumped it.

All the AC units were turned off. It was overcast and not cool, but not hot either. More like the typical weather we have this time of year. It’s the marine layer, clouds from the ocean thickening up and moving inland. It’s called “May Grey” or “June Gloom“. I prefer it. Waking up (Ha! Or in my case, waiting for sunup) to see bright sunshine means it’s gonna be scortching hot!

Ben played, watched his tablet, munched some Apple Jacks and generally just hung out. I caught up on WP, texted with Younger (nothing new…they must’ve made up…whatever!) and tried to get rid of a general feeling of irritation. No reason to be irritated… I just AM. I can’t stand being around myself when I feel like that.

10:30 and meds were just a blip as things continued as they had been. Then at noon, another blip for the half dose of Adderall.

At 1:00 Daughter came out to use the bathroom. She went back in her room to wait for the 2:30 Skype interview with the hospital. She talked about dressing up, putting on makeup… I don’t know… maybe I’ve been out of the work force too long (20 years in September) but it seems silly to go to that much trouble for a nursing job interview that she will by doing over Skype, with her phone. She could be completely naked and they wouldn’t know, if she holds the phone with only her face visible. Maybe she just wants to dress up? That’s okay. TOTALLY okay. I wore “office clothes” for enough years that they lost any appeal. I don’t mean office casual either. That was for weekends only. Ha! I was always stripping off my bra under my clothes as I walked through the front door at home. Underwire is a torture device!

Went off on a tangent there. Meh… it happens. Meds alarm at 2:00 reminded me to dope his face. These are different meds at staggered intervals. He’s not taking the same meds at 10:30, 12:00 & 2:00. I just realized how horrible that looked. He did swallow an ibuprofen the other day which was a first. We have to crush his meds, mix with juice and use a liquids syringe to give it to him. But, if he could learn to swallow all his pills (most aren’t coated like ibuprofen), we could give him time-release stuff. Anyway… tangent again… sorry.

Around 3:00 Daughter came out to take over living room duty. I was SO ready to go lay down. I’d been on the couch all dang day. She had her interview (audio only…conference call) with the hospital. She thinks it went well. They told her they would email her by Friday to request her references. I think that’s a good sign. If they weren’t interested they would’ve just thanked her, and ghosted.

Ben and Daughter stayed in the living room and I laid on my bed in my room. A calm afternoon and a calm evening. I even dozed a little bit. After the hectic, near miss on the meltdown, Daughter Drama, doctor appointment day I had yesterday, it was nice to do nothing all day. I hope tomorrow is the same.

That’s it from Casa Cuckoo for today. Thanks for hanging out with me and my menagerie. I’ll see you tomorrow, before sunrise probably. Take care of yourselves!