If you missed the start of this series, you can find it here. A lot of things will be the same or very similar.
Ben continued to be very hyper and getting into everything last night. We stuck to the schedule, even after Daughter’s BFF arrived. Dinner, bath and bed were on time.
Daughter’s other friend arrived after Ben was in bed, while I was waiting for sunset. The noise level increasing as they talked over each other. I stayed in my room until sunset.
They stayed until 10:30ish. I was dozey and waiting for some quiet. I did actually sleep from about 10:30 until 1:00am. I got up and took my pill, did my night things and went back to bed, probably asleep again by 2:00.
Ben gave me the “Gramma come living room” command just before 6:00am. When I’d dragged myself out of bed and stumbled to the living room I saw Ben… he was Fully Dressed. I settled on the couch and tried to get my brain in gear. I also had a talk with myself about the day ahead. There were errands that needed to be run and Daughter going back to work for the next three nights. I needed to center myself, reach for my Zen and stay in that zone. Whatever has been building in Ben will either continue to vent in the afternoons or he will have a BIG explosion. I was going to do my best to stay calm, go with whatever was happening and NOT get upset or stressed out because that was guaranteed to make things worse.
I got my coffee and started going through my email. Ben was doing his “angry words” and I thought about just ignoring it, waiting until after his meds to reinforce the idea that his “angry words” hurt my ears, but decided to go ahead and talk to him about it then. He was having a rough time being still and I was just waiting for the time to give him his meds.
I made him sit down and plug his tablet in, it was at 27% and I gave him a baggie of cereal. Finally meds were given and Sven was uncovered. I peeked, got The Glare and put the blanket back down. Ben moved to the chalk area and started rebuilding his city.
Daughter got up at 7:30 to take over. She saw Ben, saw what he was wearing and said “Oh, shit.” I told her that was my thoughts on the matter too. I told her I was going to attempt to stay in the zone and just get through the day.
She took over Couch Sittin’ and I went to my room. Ben went back and forth between us. He was making his Happy Noises while playing with his chalk, that was a good sign. And the thing everyone looks forward to, LAUNDRY, was started at 9:45.
My and Ben’s load followed Daughter’s and just before noon I took the clothes over to the dryers. The lady who runs the laundromat has been giving me a hard time about using the quarter changer, like for-ev-er. Something about people getting quarters and not using the machines. I dunno… true, I only use the dryers, but I use all the quarters I get there in their machines. I don’t think it’s personal, but dang! why does she have to say something every time? They need to get one of the changers that does nickles and dimes too cuz I always seem to have a bunch of them. Ugh! I guess everyone has their pet peeves and hers is people getting quarters and not putting them into the machines. Are quarters the new T.P. or something? Did I miss a memo?
I picked the clothes up from the dryers at 12:30. Still no mail for us. Daughter was supposed to get paid today and she thought she had fixed whatever with her direct deposit, but no paycheck in her account. I’d been waiting to go to the store until she got paid. With Younger being out of work or only working reduced hours, our income has been smaller, plus I’ve been helping Younger out here and there. But no direct deposit, no check in the mail… time to bust out a credit card. Our poor credit cards are suffering during this time too. We put a lot of stuff on them since March. Having Ben home is expensive and Older also took a week off between jobs.
Anyway, after folding and putting the clean clothes away, I went to the grocery store. My local store is rearranging everything so it took me a little longer than usual, but luckily I found everything on my list. They even had Ben’s pink cookies on sale 2/$7.00 and his poofs were 3/$5.00 and the Hershey bars were $1.00 each. I love when the stuff on my list is on sale.
I got home from the store around 1:30pm and went to lay down. All that running around in the hot part of the day made me feel sweaty and gross, but at least it was over.
Daughter went to go lay down in her room at 2:00. Ben was doing the chalk thing, but I knew he’d come get me so I just went to the living room.
Ben did the chalk thang for a while then moved to the couch next to me for some Tablet Time. He surfed for a while, had me write “The End” a few times, asked me for tape for a few things… normal Ben Stuff.
Pretty soon we’ll begin the countdown. Daughter has work to we have to do stuff on time tonight. We haven’t had any problems on her days off, but life, the universe, Mr Murphy… whatever, likes to throw a curveball every once in a while. Or sometimes daily, even hourly.
Anyway, I’m going to prepare myself for the next two hours and hope it all goes smoothly. Here’s a song for ya. Sing along, you know the words.
Thank you for hanging out and doing LAUNDRY and grocery shopping with us. A very exciting day, right?! Come on back tomorrow, every day is a new Adventure.
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HUGS!
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King Ben's Grandma 
Hope tomorrow is a good day too. Take care my friend. Good night.
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Thank you! Sweet dreams😴🤗🥰
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💖❤️
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I am not meaning to make fun at all, but the tension is getting fairly intense. When is Ben going to release his steam, and in what way? I feel for you, truly do.
I can recall, quite clearly, the first time I heard “The Logical Song”. I was 14, I was at my Dad’s house (parents were divorced, shared custody, yadda yadda) and I woke up to the song playing on my alarm clock radio. I didn’t really understand it completely but I thought it was brilliant and wonderful, and I think that kind of reaction is exactly what great art is all about.
As for the the Quarter-Fetish Prison Matron at the laundromat? She can bite it. Do your thing and ignore her, life goes on…
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Hopefully Ben won’t blow BIG! Meltdowns are always horrible. We get bruises and bitten. He tries to escape into the streets, not safe. We wind up having to physically restrain him which is getting harder, or we each block an exit while he hit, kicks and throws things at us, or runs around knocking things over or breaking things. His meltdowns go 2 hours, easily. We try to avoid these.
I am amazed that we’re doing as well as we are. 3 week winter break used to be horrible, 3 weeks of summer break was unbearable… he’s been home since March 13th.. 18 weeks.
The quarter lady taped up the machines with “out of order” signs and I had to go and ask her for quarters. She grudgingly gave me enough to dry the clothes after questioning me on how many dryers I was going to use, then pausing to do math in her head. I’m thinking that ordering a bunch of cheap hangers and air drying like we used to would be the best option. It takes longer, but Daughter rarely folds or puts her clothes away for days anyway…
I love the Logical Song and it just popped into my head. My daily songs are usually just a random song that pops up or I heard on the radio or a YouTube suggestion… very random, but not really. Just like me. It’s all connected… I believe in magic, in my young girl’s heart😉
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Actually, to add to the insanity of this year, there is a coin shortage! People aren’t paying in cash, so there are fewer coins around, and now stores are demanding exact change or else credit cards. But even in years past, laundromats didn’t like you using the coin changers without spending money there. I used to sneak in and get quarters at one… 🤣
Hope Ben’s steam evaporates during the night 💕
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Ah-ha! You are a quarter swiper… 🤨 Thanks for solving the mystery. Lady Dude should back off me though. I always drop all the quarters I get there in her dryers. Maybe people need to start rolling all their change from their change jars and help out the nationwide shortage.
So bizarre…
I hope Ben wakes up steam free. He was in a good mood most of yesterday. I just got scared when he was wearing the complete outfit. That’s usually a sign there’s gonna be trouble. Maybe he just felt like dressing up?🤷🏼♀️💝
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Oh boy – my fingers are crossed that you can all avoid the big explosion that feels impending. Glad you got through the day okay. I hear you about the quarters too. For me, it is when I ask for cash back when I am making a purchase at the grocery store. Every cashier seems to have something to say about that – they don’t want to run out of dollars when someone pays with cash and they need to make change I guess. I just use the self-checkout then. There’s no attitude or back talk from the machine. It just gives me the money I am asking for. Anyway, here’s hoping you guys have a great chill day today!
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Are people stuffing their mattresses with money? I dont understand what the deal is? But then, I don’t understand SO many things that are happening these days. People just baffle me🤷🏼♀️
Right after I published that post Ben started telling me to get dressed and go to the store… he wanted the “One Ring” from LOTR. What? How random🤦♀️ Like I can just go pick that up🙄 I pulled a Cars 3 car that came a couple days ago from the stash and he moved on. Thank goodness!
I know he believes I can do anything, but where he comes up with these “gotta have” items… and I can’t tell if he knows its impossible or if he just suddenly needs them🤷🏼♀️
Hope your Saturday is drama-free and fun!💖
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Oh, I know that feeling! I have been able to get us out of a few “how am I supposed to produce THIS?” things. The two that got me were the spiderman figure he loved (with the right thumb not UP) and Lego Emmet (from the Lego movie) who ALWAYS lost his hair! I can’t tell you how many times I have had to dig through tall grass trying to find that little brown lego hair to try and appease. I started buying those items on eBay just to have because I knew they were “breaking point” items.
Today was the BIG day. Big D was so excited he was getting so agitated if things weren’t going right. But he has his switch, a bit of cake, and hopefully, an early bedtime for us all 🙂 .
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Maybe then tension will go down… of course, the chatter will go up🙄 Happy Birthday Big D 🎉🎂(he’s not SpiderDeclan anymore☹) I’m feeling a little sad about YOUR kids growing up. 😆 I dont even want to think about Ben turn 12 in September… it doesnt seem possible. Hope you get to sleep at a decent hour😴😴💝
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I have still only done curbside here. I keep thinking what da ya bet when I finally go in to a store to quickly pick up a few things, they will have moved everything. During a pandemic you’d think the idea would be to get people in and out fast and not send them on a scavenger hunt!! Dumb.
Whatever has been building in Ben will either continue to vent in the afternoons or he will have a BIG explosion. Is that how it works for him. If he can somehow find a daily outlet the pressure doesn’t build into a big meltdown??
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Usually it works out that way with him. Sometimes the daily vents just arent enough and the meltdown comes. Maybe Daughter going back to work these next few nights and sleeping during the day will restore his idea of how things should be?
With Ben, it’s all guesswork. His communication is limited so he can’t tell us what is even upsetting him. That’s assuming he even knows🤷🏼♀️
I think part of my store’s redesign is they seem to be joining another chain. It was Safeway, then Vons… I think they’re joining Albertsons.🤷🏼♀️ Pretty soon WalMart will take over whatever Amazon doesn’t own. It’s ridiculous!
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I’m so with you. Hoping Ben finds a way. Take care and sending you hugs. x
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Yeah, the daily “vents” arent much fun, but SO much better than the BIG blow! Those are physically and emotionally painful!
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Glad it wasn’t too bad a day. Laundry and grocery chores can be a bit miserable but I guess, in a way, it’s a bit of a break for you even if it’s not exciting – you get out out the house and some lone time which you really need. Fingers crossed there won’t be a meltdown – HRH is doing so well, 18 weeks!! 🙂
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I was kinda surprised when I actually counted the weeks. 4.5 months, 127 days… I started the Adventures a week after the lockdown.
He’s doing exceptionally well! Mom changed jobs, no more school, sick for 10 days… he’s a trooper!🥰
I used to enjoy going to the store and dont mind so much if I’m not feeling rushed. I was trying to get everything done as quickly as possible, worried about Daughter & Ben (how sad is that?) and for whatever reason, moving around quick like that makes my nose run.🤷🏼♀️ I was standing in line, sweating under the mask with a runny nose. 🙄 nothing I could do but pinch the mask over my nostrils to keep it from running OUT of my nose. 😂😂 sweat and snot and just gross🤣🤣🤣 Oh, my life is so funny!💝🤗🥰
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You need to tell yourself next time you go to the store, you don’t need to rush – they’ll be OK. (I’m a fine one to give such advice, if I have to make a trip out I’m rushing about to get back because I’m worried about the new dog!!)
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Most of the time they ARE fine. I just dont want to deal with it if they’ve been butting heads. I work at keeping a calm vibe and I want it stay that way.
I DO tell myself that they have to figure it out, they have to get along. What if something happened? An accident or a flat ?? They’d have t figure out. Old habits are hard to break though💌
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It is so difficult! x
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Looks like things are going well. I feel sorry for the families who have to take care of the kids/homeschool etc during this time.
I couldn’t wait to “do the freedom dance“ when the little yellow bus came to drive my son to school.
And wearing the costume in this heat? Ugh.
Stay cool Angie
Teri
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I hide the button down, vest, tie and jacket…the costume is out of the way too, but with Ben🤷🏼♀️ I gotta pick my battles. Hopefully I can throw the sweater on him when he gets up and that weight will be enough. It hasn’t been too bad here except when it gets in the 90s. And we’re turning the AC on around 11:30 or 12. I thought it was generally cooler up north than down here. Has it been super hot where you are?
The weather has been getting wonkier and wonkier!💕❤💌
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Cool tonight and definitely not as hot today.
Brutal last Sat and Sunday
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Oh yeah, last weekend it was 99 one day and 95 the next… we have a few days every summer that are triple digits. One year it was 117. Santa Ana winds blowing in from the desert. Fire weather. It’s been around 85 the past couple days. Not bad for inland in July. I’m in a valley so it’s always hotter than the area closer to the coast.
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