Quarantine Diaries - Part 10: Pizza, Planting and Friends

Since my venting post last week, things have been better. Maybe because I got all of my complaining out of my system - I don't know - but it's been better.

 DC has moved up to cooking videos on YouTube. This is new. He normally watches nothing but clips of movies or songs that he likes.

So far, the cooking tutorials seem to all be about pizza.

I think he’s trying to tell me something....

After watching these videos, DC decided that he wanted to make pizza. 

So no one laugh but I may or may not have mentioned that DC has been watching cooking videos on YouTube (mostly pizza making). He wants to make pizza (no I am not making dough - I don’t even have flour here as I don’t bake) - Doug went  and bought a pizza kit, containing dough, cheese and sauce but no instructions.

So how do I make this?

Listen, I need a package that tells me oven temperature and the cooking time to make anything. You can't just give me a kit and expect baking to happen! You just can't!

With a little help from my friends, we made the pizza the next day. 

Success!

A few 'not so bright' spots of the week:

We had a Board meeting (virtually) on Monday and voted not to open the summer camp this season. It was a difficult decision but the right decision for the times. DC loves going to camp - even just the two days a week that he attends now that he "has a job".

DC got used to all of the cancellations when they happened at the beginning of the lock-down, but now some of the things that were rescheduled for a later date are also being cancelled for the year and it is sad for him.

The second cancellation this week was the PRIDE Parade that his Winter Guard team marched in last year and was scheduled to participate in this year. It was originally scheduled for June and then rescheduled for August. It too has now been cancelled for 2020 all together. Again... disappointing but necessary.

2019 Pride with the directors, his friend *Sally and DC

DC made a mouse mask for his next Story-Time Video with the mask kit that his Aunt bought  for him.

 (The Lion and the Mouse video is posted on the other blog - in Quarantine Diaries - Part 9)

We started putting his Wizard of Oz garden back together.

We planted.

DC got his hands dirty (Yikes!) but he continued helping (more growth).

There are more pots to fill but we ran out of dirt, so we will continue working on it next week.

It will all look much better when the flowers begin growing over the sides of the pots.

DC's friend, BB and his mom came by for a quick front yard visit today. They brought DC his favorite “Black and White” cookies. 

DC is really missing his friends. 

This made him happy.

A few hours later, we were to attend "The Sabrina The Teenage Witch" virtual cast reunion AND a one on one conversation with the Quizzmaster (Alimi Ballard)

More about that in Part 11.

Tomorrow we will be my second attempt at cutting DC's hair. I think maybe I have the hang of it now.

Wish him luck anyway.

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Quarantine Diaries - all

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In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Quarantine Diaries Part 8: Bald and Toothless

I confess that there is a little (a lot) of venting in this post. Everyone needs to vent once in a while, so I will be doing just that.
One cannot vent without using run-on sentences.... just so you know.
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The day after Mother's Day....

DC: Goodbye flowers.

Goodbye grass.

Goodbye sun.

Me: What are you talking about?

DC: Mother’s Day is over.

Me: What did you do?

He took down the picture he drew for me yesterday, crumpled it up and threw it away...

because Mother’s Day is over. 😢

***

It’s supposed to climb into the 80’s next week so DC and I have to go for a walk or something so Doug can come in put in the A/C because ... I just can’t deal with heat on top of all of this. DC walks by the AC on the floor in the living room and just stares and points. He’s not happy.

I, on the other hand am not looking forward to the constant “Hair-dish-on” conversations we will be having hourly once it goes in, but seriously, I just can’t not have it in and ready. #IsItHotInHereOrIsItJustMe

***

When we got home from our walk - I had to use the very last few sprays in the lysol can to spray the air because Doug had been inside of the house (He wore a mask, but still) and wipe down everything he may have touched and move everything that I had moved out of the way, back to where it belonged because DC wasn't having all of these things "out of place". 

While I was trying to do all of that because he was complaining, he also wanted to "pug in" his phone and stood there complaining about that and "put everything back" until I got the book case back where it belonged so he could do that.

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Doug decided that he would get us lunch, as an apology to DC for putting the A/C in and also to give me a little break so there was someone else there for DC to ask all of his questions to (that never works, but it was worth a try). He wanted to meet us at the park to have the lunch but I did not want DC to sit at or touch the picnic tables so we opted for the back porch.

This is the first time we have been all together for a meal since March 22.

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DC also has a new and improved pronunciation for the Air Conditioner... He's gone from "Hair-dish-on" to "Hair-dish-a-ner" - closer, much closer. I know this because I have heard it many many times since the air conditioner went in.

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Just to be clear; I am not complaining about him at all. I know this is difficult for him, I do. I get it and try to be as patient as humanly possible. He has his moments and so do I.

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During the first week of lock-down, I broke a crown. It just snapped right off and it hurt like hell for a couple of weeks. I did not want to have to go to the dentist during all of this and since I cannot go anywhere without DC, I certainly did not want to have to bring him to the dentist with me.

Because of this, I had to make sure to chew on the other side of my mouth - long story short, I have a big implant that spans the space of two or three teeth on that side but when I chew on that side, it feels as if the bottom tooth is going to break because as I was  told after they put it in, my bottom tooth can't support that big implant (and you wonder why I hate the dentist). So far that bottom tooth is holding up but because I am trying not to chew directly on it, another tooth chipped, which kind of hurts when cold or air hits it.

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Somewhere around week two, I broke my toe. This is not something unusual for me. I have broken it so many times that the smallest bump breaks it again. Fortunately I did not have to go anywhere that required me wearing a shoe.

When the toe finally healed,  I broke the other one on the other foot.

Both the same way... hitting it on the coffee table. That one is still on the mend but I can wear a shoe and once I get walking, it starts to feel better.

It did put a bit of a damper on our daily walks.

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Next, I threw my back out trying to clean under the couch cushions (they are big and heavy), so I had to be careful for the next few days so I didn't do any more damage. It still hurts if I move the wrong way.

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I may have mentioned in an earlier post that there is construction going on in the apartment next door (We live in a duplex). This began the 2nd week of the lock-down, when were were woken up at 7:30 am to the walls shaking and what sounded like demolition. Not just noise, I can live with noise, but the crew taking a sledge hammer to the bathroom.

No notice, no heads up.... nothing.

We had no idea what was happening.

This went on for about 4 weeks.

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We woke up one morning to no water. They just turned it off!

DC was freaking out because there was no water. Due to the fact that there were also town trucks in the road doing something, I had no idea if they were working on a water main or if the "construction" crew had shut it off.

I ran outside and went to the garage next door and yelled into it "Why don't we have water?"

The "construction" guy said "Oh, I am installing a hot water heater and I had to turn it off. It will only be off for a few minutes!"

"How the F#&% would I know that unless someone tells us ahead of time?" (I've been done being nice for quite awhile now, so there were a few more choice words for him before I went inside to calm DC down)

He looked at me as if I were the one with the problem. This was the same man who on day one of demolition, came to my door - no gloves, no mask and wanted to come in to look at my bathroom!

At that time he also looked at me as if I were the one with the problem! It's a QUARANTINE!

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We had a two week reprieve from the construction and I thought after 4 weeks they were finally finished, but no...

they are back once again with no notice and no heads up.

You can't imagine how much all of this affects DC (and me). 

We are trapped here all day every day with all of this going on. It's not right.

That apartment had been empty two months before the quarantine began. My landlord is an electrician and owns his own company. The people who are working next door are not construction workers, they are his electricians. He is probably using then as he always seems to use them - to paint, trim trees or whatever needs to be done, so he has an opportunity for cheap labor and is taking full advantage of it.

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I have lost all capability to concentrate on anything.

Our office is closed but I have been called upon to do many tasks since it's closing.

I don't have all of my files and I don't receive all of the information I need, so it is a struggle. I am getting more and more anxious every day due to everything that is being thrown at me and knowing that because I don't have everything I need, my system is a mess. All I can think about is how much of a mess it is and am terrified I will miss something important. 

Over and above not being able to get organized and just sit down and start from the beginning to make everything right, when I do try, I have DC asking for lunch and what's for dinner before he's even had lunch, sticking head bands in my hair and whatever else he decides he's going to do while I try to work, random construction sounds that at times make both of us jump out of our seats, and my remote access system going down many times daily  - I'm spending much of my time just pacing.

***

Over the past few years I have thought about dying my hair gray. I have ugly gray. I want nice gray.

Since I was not going anywhere anyway, I decided that this quarantine provided me the time to do this.

I ordered color remover. 

I have used it before so I know it doesn't remove everything.

It came out  white (on top, where the dye was new), orange and brown. 

I ordered more, but since hair dye is not a necessity, it took a good two weeks for it to arrive.

I did it again, but it was a different brand and did not take much more of the color out.

I waited through a few days of conditioning and tried the gray.

It came out brown with gray on top (the gray stripe on top was what I was hoping to avoid by dyeing it gray). Brown with a gray stripe was not an option.

I ordered more.

Two weeks later, I tried it again. Back to white, orange and lighter brown.

Then I chopped it off up to my shoulders since the older, hard to remove dye is towards the bottom.

I almost took DC's clipper to it and just shaved it off. It was plugged in and in my hand. If it had been earlier in the lock-down I would have done it (my hair grows pretty fast) but the state is making plans to open up in phases and I don't know when I will have to go back into the office so I stopped myself.

More remover ordered.

At this point I've given up on the gray (maybe) and have no idea what I am going to do with it once I remove more color, but I could very well come out of this quarantine bald and toothless the way things are going.

***

On the upside....

I did learn the correct spelling of quarantine, so there's that.

Quarantine Diaries - all

*****

In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time 

Quarantine Diaries Part 5 - Masks, Garlic and Jelly Beans

As you might imagine, DC is NOT a fan of the mask.
I have tried a few different variations, but he hated all of them.

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Who would have ever imagined that the masks that he holds to his face when I spray him with bug spray when he works in the greenhouse at his job (that he despises - the mask not the job) would be the mask he is most comfortable wearing? I didn't even try them because he normally hates them so much.

Mask wearing - Accomplished!

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DC is dancing around the kitchen and living room, announcing that he is dancing - in case I did not know what he was doing.

Me: What are you dancing to?

DC: Celebration

Me: (rolling eyes) I'm glad you have your headphones on then.

DC: (laughs because he knows how much I loath that song) Celebration!

I blame Winter Guard 100% for this... (see, It's a Celebration)

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DC would rather write princess names on 1000 pieces of white paper than do anything crafty - normally.

And we’re painting.
#Lockdown

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This guy loves garlic. He puts garlic powder on everything.
There has been no garlic powder in the grocery store for the past two weeks. (What’s up with that?)
I found some on Amazon. It will be delivered on Saturday.
Recite and Repeat:
“Mom! I wish the garlic will be delivered soon. I miss my garlic.”
Things are just getting weird now...

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This morning: There is a bag of jellybeans in the cabinet and DC knows it. We seem to have a lot more junk around for a lock-down/quarantine than we usually do so I am trying to ration it or spread it out so it doesn’t become a habit.

He asked about the jelly beans yesterday (in-between longing for a garlic delivery), I told him he could have some today.

He woke up this morning and the first words out of his mouth were:

“Jelly beans today”

Me: Oh My God! You didn’t even say good morning before you started asking for jelly beans!

DC left the room saying “do it again”.

He came back in: Good morning Mom! Jelly beans today?

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Another front porch visit with grandma.

This visit lasted a little bit longer than the last but it took a turn when Grandma decided she wanted to come out and sit (with a mask on) on one end of the porch while we were on the other end. 

He was not happy that he had to put his mask on.

He was grouchy the entire time we were there.

As he sat there I did notice that DC is getting gray hair! I guess I shouldn't be shocked as I started going gray around 18, but I was.

My "baby' has gray hair!

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His garlic arrived a day earlier than expected (Phew!) so all was right with the world for the day.

Yes, he is kissing the garlic container (after it was wiped down of course)

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Quarantine Diaries - all

*****

In case you are new here: “I tell stories, most of the time; single individual stories about this or that. Some may be written with humor and some may come across as “Oh, look at the cute thing DC did or said” (he does crack me up at times) but my object is always to make people understand how his mind works, never to "make fun of him"

It is difficult to explain “his” autism to anyone without resorting to 1000 examples and 1000 stories. So I tell 1000 stories to make clear that there are other sides to autism than the characters seen in TV or movies."

This blog is used for shorter posts, off topic posts and also for longer Face book statuses. Please visit my official blog site at: Taking it a Step at a Time