Part 50 ~ 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.

WOW! 50 days… that is amazing to me! I can’t believe I’m still writing every day. THANK YOU! Without your reading and encouragement, I would’ve stopped a long time ago.

I survived my trip into PUBLIC last night, just barely. My glasses kept fogging up, I was sweating under the mask and for some bizarre reason, my nose always runs when I’m at the grocery store. Thank goodness it was a quick trip. Even though it was pretty busy,  I was able to get the few things on my list (which I forgot at home) plus I got my Marie Calendar mini choco cream pies. Yum! And, another beautiful sunset as I was leaving

When I got home, Daughter was in a better mood. She had food from Denny’s delivered. Salt & grease always cheers her up.

I went outside to check out the moon before calling it a night. Full moons are always cool, especially when there are a few clouds to light up.

I took my pill and was dozing, just crossing into sleep when I got Bounced! WTF?! It was just shy of midnight. I told Ben it wasn’t time to get up, he needed to go back to bed. He ran for the bathroom. Okay… acceptable. THEN, back to bed. He went easy enough.

But at 1:30 I got Bounced again! And this time, it for was for good. He ordered me to the living room, and I zombie shuffled after him. Not much else I could do, my eyes wouldn’t stay open. He settled down with his chalk and I laid down on the couch and dozed.

Around 5:00 Ben wanted to sit next to me on the couch. Zeus wasn’t too keen on moving from the highly coveted spot. I was in foggyville and only barely registered the incident. I heard Ben say “Scoot!” and “Move over!”, but stayed in my fog. Then I heard Zeus growl. With Ben involved, that usually means Ben is hurting Zeus, and yep… this time too. Ben was leaning against Zeus, squishing him, to make him move. Last night it was the daughters, this morning it was the children. Siblings…OY!

I got off the couch so Zeus would follow, Ben got comfy, then I sat back down. I was completely awake. My executive wasn’t functioning, but I was awake. Bathroom and coffee…

At 6:10 I decided to get the meds ready. Ben had been good during the long night, but it was still a disjointed, wiggly jiggly, ADHD fueled, long night. I doped his face and uncovered Sven. Then I picked up all the chalk so I could get to the coffee pot without going through an obstacle course.

Ben fell asleep. WTF?! This child takes 5mg of speed (which is what Adderall is) and goes to sleep. I weighed the pros and cons, and let him sleep. I’ll give him an hour, maybe 90 minutes, then he needs to get back up. I don’t want him staying up until 10:00 tonight. Daughter has to go back to work, and she’ll be grumpy if she can’t lay down at 6:30-7:00.

I switched the AC on in the living room and went to tell Daughter not to get up. Then I went to lay down on my bed and started on my WP Reader. I knew I wouldn’t be going back to sleep.

At 9:30 I decided that 2 hours was long enough and went to wake Ben up. I was SO tempted to Bounce him, but he was on the couch and I was afraid my klutzy self would wind up hurting us both. I squatted next to him and said “It’s time wake up, Babylove.” He was ready to wake up, his eyes were a little red but he opened them right away and grabbed for the juice I was holding.

Daughter came out while I was waking him up. She had all her stuff, so I let her take Living Room Duty. I glanced at Sven as I was headed back to my room… oh, Grumpy Grumpy Dragon

ready to Judge the first person to sit down. He’ll get his shower when it’s time. I refuse to be bossed by a Bearded Dragon.

Ben came to hang out in my room (and try to go back to sleep, I think) and watch his tablet. At 10:30 Daughter brought meds, and I went to do Sven’s shower and make his salad.

Today’s salad includes wild arugula, 4 plump blueberries and 1 canned grasshopper

Sven was very Blissed until I attacked him with the toothbrush, then he tried to climb out. Zeus, very nosy and always at my side, watched

I didn’t try to take pictures after his shower. I didn’t even stay to watch, I just went back to my room. Later I saw that he’d gotten the grasshopper and two of the blueberries, it’s difficult to tell if ate any of the greens.

I found Ben, on his belly, sprawled across my bed when I got to my room. I wanted to jump onto the bed and play Bongos on his booty, but I restrained myself. We hung out in my room for a while, then he went back to the living room, back and forth, back and forth… not in the SpazmaTaz way, just drifting from one project to the next.

Ben did ask me to go in the living room once when Daughter was in the bathroom. I tried explaining that she would be out in a minute, but he cut me off with “Gramma, come living room now!” Okay, okay, I’m coming… I didn’t grab my stuff, I was just going to stand there until Daughter was done in the bathroom. Ben pointed at the couch and said “Sit!” Ex-cuse me?? Dang! What could I do but sit down? Gotta pick my battles . Ben happily dumped his chalk and started doing his thang, I waited for Daughter, sitting on the edge of the couch. I didn’t get a pat or a cookie.

Back to my room for more Horizontal Time. Laying down is how I spend most of my time. It’s the only way to be comfortable without having to take the morphine tablets, which I prefer to use sparingly because they cause constipation. And after that one summer/fall… let’s just say I do NOT want a repeat.

3:15 Ben came into my room fully dressed. He said “I need help!” to his reflection in the mirror. I had a snarky thought, but didn’t voice it. I asked what he needed help with? He said “Button it!” I guessed (correctly) that he meant the vest he’d put on and not my mouth. I asked him who he was dressed up to be? He said “I Sweeney Todd.” Of course. How silly of me to ask.  I buttoned the vest and told him that if he was gonna wear all those clothes, he needed to go out to the Air Conditioned living room. He, of course, preferred to sit on my bed in front of the mirror.

I guess that got a little boring cuz he left for the living room again. I kept waiting to hear him sing Johanna but I guess he wasn’t feeling it. (Bit of trivia… both daughters and I went to see Sweeney Todd at the theater when it came out back in 2008. Older was pregnant with Ben at the time. He first heard those songs in utero.) Turns out the little stinker had fallen asleep again. Daughter woke him up and he ran to my room. I tickled him and wiggle jiggled him (while Zeus protested… loudly) until he was more awake.

White chicken dinner is cooking, the evening is winding down. The heat wave is supposed to be over, but the moon is full. Life continues to be an adventure and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Thank you again for stopping by every day for the past 50! You, my readers, friends, WP Fam… YOU help me get through these crazy corona, no Glorious Little Yellow School Bus days. Please let me know if I can return the favor.

 

Hugs!