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 storm actually started breaking up after I posted. Around 5pm, I looked out the window and said “Oooooh! Pretty!” then went out to look, and take pictures.
Ben had chilled out and was eating his pizza. We decided to skip the bath and leave him be. He started saying he was “ready to go bedtime” around 5:45pm. We usually Drive Miss Daisy around 6:20pm, so he had a bit of a wait.
I got a little grumpy right before we left cuz there were messes all over the place, and I wanted to put Ben straight to bed. All of his stuff was still in the living room and there were chalk creations, chalk dust, and miscellaneous crap everywhere. I got it all sorted with Zeus in my way the entire time… GRRRR!
The drive was super quiet. I think Daughter was afraid I was gonna go Linda Blair or something. We dropped her off, came home, got The Boys settled, and Daughter was texted that we’d arrived safely.
I did all the usual, and was actually in bed, ready for sleep by 10pm. I woke around 1am and again around 4am. I was up for a little while both times, but went back to sleep until the 6am alarm woke me up. I did NOT want to get up, but I made myself.
I let Zeus out and gave Ben his meds at 6:30, then went to look at the sky. All the clouds were gone. I got myself and Ben ready, texted Daughter that we were up, and periodically went outside to look for my avian friends.
I had a new friend visit today. A Mourning Dove, looking yellow from the rising sun. I’m pretty sure it was a Mourning Dove. It didn’t say anything, so I can’t be completely sure, but it was bigger than the Goldfinch that visited the other day. Mr. Crow was on his branch, squawking up the Sun. I’d been feeling bummed about the G’s not stopping by, but I saw Georgie, and paparazzi’d him from the car, on the way to get Daughter.
Daughter took that last picture, since I was driving. The mist hanging over the valley looked pretty cool.
We got home and went to our usual places. I gave Ben a ginormous box of chalk, sixty-four pieces, before he even asked. Then around 10:15am, he started asking for more. I told him he was just being silly.
After taking his 10:30am med, he decided it was time to go outside. At first he was drawn to the mud hole, as I knew he would be. I reminded him that mud meant a shower. When I got up to check on him again, he’d moved to a spot in the sunshine, next to a bunch of chalk that had been outside through the rain. He’d colored his arms and part of his face with red chalk (it stains, but it’s not like he’s going anywhere, and it’s way better than mud) and was just goofing around. I decided to relocate to my room, and get Horizontal. The place he was playing is right next to the side door, which is right outside my room.
When the alarm for his 12:30pm med went off, I got the med and his water bottle and took them to him. He was still happily playing with the wet chalk, sitting in the sunshine. I went back to my room and got Horizontal again.
When the 2:30pm med alarm went off, I grabbed the meds and took them out to Ben. He was still outside, still doing the chalk thang in the sunshine. He changed his location, but only by about fifteen feet. (Autism focus, aka In The Zone) Daughter got up about ten minutes later. I told her he’d been out there most of the day, and he’d probably be hungry. She’d talked about ordering food before she went to sleep, so she went ahead and ordered a delivery from the Golden Arches… Big Mac and fries for me… nom nom.
Ben finally came inside around 3:45pm, asking for Pink Cookies, and kicking me out of the baño. His Happy Meal and extra nuggets hadn’t arrived yet, so after fighting with him to wash most of the chalk off his hands, I gave him the cookies. He took them into my room to eat. I put one of the throw blankets under him to make clean up easier. We need a tarp, tbh.
I think we’ll end there. Dinner was just delivered, sunset is in about a half hour, and Daughter is off tonight.
A fun song I heard on one of the Driving Miss Daisy trips. I didn’t know it was The All-American Rejects. I remember them from “Swing Swing”… anyway, blast it and have fun!
Thanks for hanging out on this most excellent, non-rainy, mellow day. Daughter is off work until Wednesday night, and the Guessers are predicting 70°F (21°C) for the next two days. THAT’S the weather we pay the “Sunshine Tax” for. Hopefully the next few days will be Rinse, repeat and we can get some much needed rest. Still… it’s Casa Cuckoo so who knows?! ¡Hasta mañana!
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HUGS!
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King Ben's Grandma 
Oh my, I can relate. I was the cranky one this afternoon because of the perpetual mess and I think everyone stood their distance. Bobby was the one who dared to near me, but only to help (bless his soul – bonus points to Bobby).
Sounds like a deep case of the “autism zone” with the chalk outside. I came in from walking the dogs tonight to D in a deep battle of who knows what – but it had already been going on for about a half an hour before I left. Works for me!
Well, I hope you have a good nights rest and then another wonderfully chill day tomorrow. We are “supposed” to get another two days of snow. The grocery stores were crazy today. I guess we will see!
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The messes make me anxious, just looking at them, and trying to walk through our wonky small house with chalk and whatever else, all over the floor… UGH!
Daughter says “why clean it up? He’s just going to make it messy again.” I keep telling her that we can keep him to one general area, if we keep it cleaned up. Otherwise he just moves to a clean spot. 🤐🤐🤐🤐 enough 😂😂😂
Snow would be good, right? The kids want snow to play in, they would be outside… you could stay inside, in the warmth and quiet😉🤞🤞💕
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I hear the same thing all the time. “Why clean it up? If he is still awake, he is just going to keep moving through the house and making a new mess everywhere he goes.” To me, it is just and excuse to NOT have to clean it up. Drives me nuts. I may be interpreting the behavior incorrectly, but it is definitely not one I subscribe to.
Snow would be awesome. The big kids can stay on their zooms as they are not in the same “let’s play!” snow mindset. But if there is as much as snow as they are predicting, D can definitely have the whole day off of zoom to appreciate the outdoors 🙂
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Any excuse not to Zoom😉 He needs to play. He’s a kid. This year has been hard enough, especially for kids like Declan, Ben and Hawklad. They need to play when the opportunity comes!
I wish for sunny & warm for me and a foot of snow for you… two feet!😉🤞💕
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Wow fantastic pics!!! Good night’s sleep too 💖
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I’m going to try to repeat the sleep and stay in bed past sunrise.🤞
I was super surprised at how fast the clouds started breaking up last night.
No clouds tonight.🤷🏼♀️ no rain either, so definitely worth it.
I hope you get some good sleep!🤞😴😴😴💕
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Gorgeous pictures! Sounds like a lovely chill day. I hope you get to wash rinse repeat. 🎶💃🏼💫🤗❤️
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It was a rare day. Ben didn’t grunt at me at all and he only told me to get dressed and go to the store one time. I’d love to do it all over again tomorrow.🤞
I hope you have/had a peaceful night and restful sleep 😴✨🦋🌻💕🌈
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Hey Angie the pictures are so good. It does looks like a dove, but all golden, reflecting the sun. I’m glad it was a relaxing day for you and good some much needed sleep as well. Hope it’s more of the same tonight and tomorrow. Enjoy your macdees.
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Thank you, Sadje! I love when the sky is so pretty, but I always take too many pictures. Then it takes forever to edit them, then choosing 🙄🤦🏼♀️ It’s difficult for me to pick.
No dramatic sunset tonight, so not as many pictures to decide on for tomorrow 😉😂
I ate my fries right away. They’re only good when they’re fresh. The Big Mac will be okay at room temperature. I don’t eat a lot of burgers but I knew Daughter would give me a hard time if I only got fries🙄 Lots of calories… a good thing for me😂😂🍟🍔
Enjoy your Sunday!🤗🥰💕🌻
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Lucky you that you are supposed to eat lots of calories. It’s the exact opposite in my case. Enjoy your meal and me time but sleep early. 😴
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I guess chalk is better than mud – seems Ben is in need of sensory experiences at the moment! 🙂
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Yep. A sensory seeker… an autistic friend told me that they can feel disconnected from their body. Like they cant feel their hands or arms… that must be so weird.
Chalk is definitely better than mud! And it was wonderful that he spent the day outside in the sunshine!🌞💕
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Wow, I haven’t thought of the All American Rejects for a good long while. It’s amazing how many songs we used to love and then we completely forgot about them. If you’re bored, here’s a link to my review of one of the Rejects’ songs from back in the day, on one of my old blogs. It’s not a very good review, which is why I never cleaned it up and moved it to Bonnywood, but there are a few giggly bits…
http://lageose9.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-american-rejects-move-along.html
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I actually didn’t believe Daughter and had to look it up. I don’t remember Move Along, but wow… should have a seizure warning with the video.
You should reprise Backup Dancers From Hell! So many songs…🎶💃🏼
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I’m slowly moving all of the old reviews onto a newer website, once I rework them. (Some of those reviews are really terrible and need some TLC.) There’s a link in the far right column on Bonnywood…
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