Where did the day go?

Today went by really, really fast! Mike took Jack and Luke up to DC to see a Capitals game. They had a great time. Hannah and Alex were supposed to go, but Alex decided not to and, of course, Hannah won't go anywhere without Alex because "it's boring without Alex".

Before he left this morning, Mike suggested that I take the kids remaining at home (Drew and Steven were both working) to Golden Corral as a special treat since they didn't get to go to the game. I did that and we had a great time. The food was delicious, they have really good steak there. The guy who was grilling the steak was hilarious. He was teasing everyone and just acting really silly, which normally annoys me, but I thought he was funny. He told Hannah she could join the cooking class that he runs for women every Sunday. It is only $1000 and she would only have to leave a $500 deposit today. The look on her face was priceless because she didn't know if he was kidding or not! He was also trying to convince the lady in front of us, who was from North Carolina, that NC only got Golden Corrals a few months ago. She thought he was serious at first, too, and was arguing with him, until she realized he was kidding and started laughing.

During the meal, Hannah left to go to the bathroom (typical!). When she came back, she was terrified (also typical, not for her to get terrified in the bathroom, but for her to all of a sudden become terrified about something). She said that some lady in a yellow shirt came out of the stall when Hannah was washing her hands and said, "Move, Faggot" to her, so she ran out of the bathroom. Upon further questioning, the woman came out of the stall and muttered something that sounded like it might be that. We all tried to calm her down, although she was nervous the rest of the meal and kept watching for the woman in yellow. Eventually she pointed her out to me and I have to admit she did look pretty scary! (I can no longer hear or use the word scary without thinking of Denise's son, E, who says everything is "scawy", with such a cute face.) She had the appearance of some of the mentally ill homeless woman I used to see when I worked in downtown Chicago. Anyway, we had some fun with it at the table, joking around that she was going to come over and start hitting us with her purse and things like that. I thought that I could "take her", though, since my huge purse is most likely heavier and bigger than hers! Then Alex entertained us for a while with his silly attempts to sneak the little packets of honey butter home in his clothing! Shauna was worried that they had cameras in there and they would think he was really going to steal it and they would come and arrest him.

So all in all, it was a fun day, even though it went by so quickly. The Caps won, so that was a plus for all of those who went to the game. Oh, and Luke caught a puck that came into the stands, through a hole in the glass for a cameraman, and he caught a t-shirt! Too bad he isn't 18 and can't buy a lottery ticket tonight.

Ugh!

CUP just came in and said that Luke's car is steaming or smoking, he can't tell which. Great, it would be just poor Luke's luck to have his car bite the dust before he even gets his license!

A cute picture

This picture was taken at a Fourth of July celebration near my Dad's house. Jack is pretending to choke Steven. That is Steven's longtime best friend, Joe, on the right.

Jack's job--please send prayers

Well, lack there of might be a better title in this case! Today I found a few jobs at a religious television station that would be perfect for Jack and are actually in his field, which is impossible to find right now. He graduated 8 months ago and still has no job. We are desperate at this point because we cannot afford to keep paying his bills and his school loans are coming due.

I want him to apply for those jobs and he wants to, but there is one problem. Jack is not in any way, shape, or form religious. In fact, as someone on the autism spectrum, he finds it hard to believe in anything that isn't concrete. This company has a chapel and requires employees to attend daily. Jack will do it, although he won't like it. Who knows, maybe he will even become a believer! We are just worried that if he gets to the interview process, they are going to ask him a lot of religious stuff. Even though I'm sure he will yell at me for blogging about this, he really needs prayers right now! Prayers that he gets a job, even if it isn't this one, very, very soon. I would love to see him doing something that he loves to do, but right now anything would work.

For my hubby

Mike wanted me to blog so his picture won't be at the top of my blog. I liked it up there, but I will blog anyway.

The Sears repair man is coming tomorrow to fix my washer. Yay! I'm trying to get Luke to change the kitty litters in there so he won't pass out as he enters the room. So far, the closest I've gotten to that happening, is when Luke came downstairs and deposited himself, his two favorite cats and his ipod on the couch, where he remains at this moment. He claims the cats are "too cute" to move. Funny, since he was standing up, without cats on him, when I told him to start emptying the litter pans!

Mikey, the day we met

I blogged here about the first time we met, but I couldn't find the picture, at the time, so here it is.

Mike on 10/30/80. He would meet me about 9 hours after this photo was taken.

Ryan called

My former foster son (still my son in my heart) called a few minutes ago. I was so happy to talk to him. He is now 20 and is one of the most wonderful kids ever!

He called me and left a couple of messages while I was at Denise and Nick's right after Christmas and I hadn't gotten a chance to call him back yet. With Drew's injury and my trip, I just haven't been able to pick a time and call. I thought about it every day, just never actually did it. In fact, I woke up today and thought about calling him but then instead spent my time making grocery and Walgreens lists, organizing my computer desk, organizing my coupons, driving kids around, and cleaning up a bit. I was just starting to make some banana bread when the phone rang and it was Ryan.

I thanked him for being patient with me and not giving up when it took me so long to call him back and he said, "I would never give up on you, I love you!" Isn't that the sweetest thing ever? I told Alex about it and he said, "Wow, he's your only kid that's nice to you."

I got to talk with Ryan's mom, Leona, also. She and her husband are such good people. As much as I wish he could still be with me, I am so glad that he is with them. They are the perfect parents for him and his older sister, Myrtle. Myrtle almost came to live with us many times, but due to the idiocy of the foster care system at the time, that never happened.

I'm off to make the banana bread so Mike and Jack don't yell at me about wasting more bananas, but I wanted to blog about this while it was fresh in my mind. I will post a baby picture of Ryan as soon as I find the albums he is in. For some reason (it couldn't be that I'm so unorganized), all my photo albums aren't together.