Catching Up, A Bit

Somehow life doesn't slow down even when I do...

We are "on our own" now. My mom left Sunday morning, Gi-gi arrived shortly thereafter, and left early Wednesday morning. My mom spent much of her time here enjoying the girls and the kitchen (hers is in remodel and hasn't existed for months). She cooked a lot, and did crafts and activities with the kids regularly. Gi-gi is very practical, and spent her time catching up on laundry and vacuuming and such things.

We went to town yesterday, 3 carseats smashed into the backseat. Needed a new pair of 36x32 jeans for Hubby and about 30 lbs of cantaloupe. I'll explain that later. Hubby led the Search and Rescue Team to locate the infant carseat, which, I'm sorry to say, wasn't in very good condition. It was in a garbage bag, on the floor under some shelves in the basement. Sounds like a decent plan, but the bag had been breached, and moisture and subsequent mold had found it's way onto the pad, in a very ... profuse manner. I didn't see it, which is probably good, but Hubby spent some time cleaning the parts and laundering the pad. It still doesn't look very good to me, but we used a nice little fleece carseat-blanket thing (has the holes for straps already in it) to line it, and used it anyway. Of course, in 6 years, Graco has changed all it's carseats and our "old" model isn't included on the 'replacement parts' list. Perhaps I'll get ambitious and tear it apart or re-upholster it in some fashion. The three carseats mostly fit... The hardest part is Big(gest!) Sister's booster uses the shoulder belt... and you have to cram your hand down underneath and between 2 seats to latch or unlatch it, which is complicated. My folks are sending us a narrower backless booster which I hope will make the whole operation a bit smoother.

Another thing that would make things smoother is if my hips/pelvis would straighten out. I'm not sure what's "wrong", but walking hurts still, and I can't lift much (the baby, but not the carrier too). I may have to make an appointment to be rearranged. When I get tired, my left leg gets hard to lift and scuffs along the floor a bit. Worrisome.

Regarding 30 lbs of cantaloupe: Hubby saw his doctor on Tuesday. He was actually supposed to see him Friday morning, but we were busy then. On this crazy food sensitivity diet, with the rotation, he's lost 11 more pounds. And he ate like a horse. But, as with everything with his diet, it's time to complicate it again. First, he has to do a 72 hour mono-fruit fast. Hence the cantaloupe. Today, tomorrow, and Saturday, ALL he can eat is cantaloupe. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, cantaloupe. Oh, plus a nasty concotion at morning and bedtime; 8 oz water mixed with a tablespoon each of psyllium seed husk and flax. He used boiling water this morning, and ended up having to put it in the blender. His term "gorilla snot" wasn't far off reality. I wonder if he'll use cold water next time. After this fruit fast, he resumes his rotation diet, but eliminates all pork and any beef not 'ground'. AND he adds some crazy herbs to his routine. $100 worth of stuff, a program to clear out any bad bacteria in the intestines. Some he takes 3 of 3 times per day, others one a day. He also has to wash his hands with rubbing alcohol or vodka so as to not reintroduce bacteria into his system. I think I may institute that myself: "Visitors of The Baby, please wash with vodka prior to holding her."

The (elder) girls and I spent some time in the garden today. It's a mystery to me why 90% of my tomatoes are still green, and it's almost October. We picked a couple reds and a small pile of orange ones to watch ripen indoors. The gourds are even ready, and we picked what we could locate in the jungle. I processed the tomatoes I picked just before going into labor, and a few Gi-gi brought, and got 4 more ziplocs frozen. Worst case scenario, I'll try jerking up the vines and hanging them in the garage to ripen before frost hits.

Between Baby, tomatoes, and helping scrape and prime part of the house, I think I'm done in for today. Well, I need to cook dinner, but at least Hubby's dinner won't be very complicated...