Another fun-filled October week! Actually, it started off badly, with Teen B's neuropsych evaluation on Monday. He was so angry about having to get up early and spend the day doing this. Anger was just sparking off him, like he was about to burst into flame. I don't know if the evaluation will even be that good, because he filled out his forms so quickly that he finished about three hours early. We met with the head psychologist (while another one administered the tests) and he went through a few things with us. It sounded like Teen B did not meet the criteria for ADHD at all, and while he had some of the criteria for ASD, it didn't sound like it was going to be enough. I expressed unhappiness with the fact that there seem to be no other categories, and the psychologist agreed with me. He said "The DSM is a work in progress, and I often feel that it's missing things."
The rest of the day (after we brought Teen B home) was also bad, but on Tuesday (the last day of their little fall vacation) he was better, and by that evening he was downright cheerful. So on we went. Rocket Boy and I had to fill out a lot of forms too, and we obviously could only do them when the kids weren't around listening (we did them together, reading the questions aloud and discussing them), but we finally finished those on Thursday and I drove them over. And now we wait for the results. I'm not optimistic that we'll learn anything useful. But at least we did this and now I don't have to feel guilty about not doing it.
One fun thing I did this week was plant bulbs. Last week Rocket Boy went to McGuckin's to get something, and he called me from there to ask a question and also asked if I wanted anything. I suddenly remembered that McGuckin's carries bulbs! "Could you get me about six bulbs?" I asked. "Anything, doesn't matter what kind. Ask the staff there to recommend something." So he did, and came home with six tulip bulbs, all different varieties. Thinking it over, I kind of wished I'd asked for something else, like hyacinths, which I love, but it's OK, tulips are good too. So on Thursday I planted them, in the sunniest corner of the flower bed in the front yard, because tulips like sun. And now I get to watch for them to come up -- in about 5-6 months.
I haven't had any bulbs (except our weird iris, that hardly ever bloom, and the grape hyacinth in the backyard -- well, and of course the alliums) since we added the porch, back in 2008. The cement step went right on top of my crocuses and they never found their way out from under it. I'm always jealous of the bulbs of everyone else in the neighborhood. So maybe in the spring of 2026 I will have some!
My book group got rescheduled from last week to this week, so I stopped reading the book for it and went back to my spooky books. That means that tonight I will have to start reading The Wide Wide Sea again. It seems like a good book -- just not what I want to read in October.
I've really been struggling with trying to do political tasks the last several months, mainly because everything is so depressing. I just cannot believe what is going on with our country right now, and I have trouble distilling my concerns into letters to the editor, when what I really want to do is burst into tears. So I appreciated it that there was another protest to go to this weekend, because it meant I wouldn't have to think, just march along. We decided to go to the protest in Longmont because we could see our friends. We thought we would go to the Boulder protest afterwards, but in the end it got too late (and we were so tired, after two hours walking the streets in Longmont, plus another few hanging out with our friends afterwards). But we drove through the Boulder protest and honked.
There were thousands of people at the Longmont protest (the estimate was 2000-3000) and for the first hour or so we couldn't find our friends, even though we were trying to use the "share your location" device on our phones. We walked up and down Main Street looking for them. Finally Rocket Boy found them, but by then he and I had gotten separated. So he phoned me: "I'm on the northwest corner of 6th and Main," he shouted. "I'm on the northeast corner!" I shouted back. "I'll cross over." But that was easier said than done, because there were so many people everywhere. Finally I found them all. Dave and Kathy were wearing yellow windbreakers. We had read that you were supposed to wear yellow, but we don't have a lot of yellow clothing. I actually went to Target the night before the protest, to try to find some yellow clothes, but the pickings were slim and I can't stand mustard yellow. In the end I gave up and wore a green shirt and a brown hoodie. Rocket Boy wore an orange t-shirt under a pale yellow shirt under a brown sweater. It was fine. Only a small percentage of the people were wearing yellow. Some were in Halloween costumes, including inflatable ones.
Participating in protests doesn't give me the high that it did when we first started doing this, back in February, but it still feels good. And it was amazing how many people came out for this one. I thought maybe since there's a peace deal in Gaza (which seems to be disintegrating, but oh well) there wouldn't be as many people there, but there were far more than before. The cars driving by and honking seemed secondary -- you could hardly see them anyway. So many people around here are angry. And from what I've read, people all over the country are really angry too. So that's something. I guess.
So, on with the fourth week of October! This will be Rocket Boy's last week before he starts his new job, so we have a lot of things we should get done. He has multiple appointments and I should have my book group meeting, unless it gets postponed again. It's going to be colder this week, with highs in the 60s and lows in the 30s. Tomorrow's forecast is for "Patchy, blowing dust between 11 am and 5 pm." Patchy, blowing dust sounds like a Ridgecrest forecast. Very weird.
Last week wasn't a good cooking week, although I did make a new lasagna recipe from the
New York Times that my sister recommended and that everyone liked. Rocket Boy made spaetzle and we had that for a few nights, but he put lion's mane mushrooms in the gravy and they ended up with the consistency of liver, which made me feel nauseous (I don't like liver). I chewed and chewed, feeling sicker and sicker. Fortunately I didn't actually throw up, but it was a close thing. The next night RB made another batch of gravy with no mushrooms.
This week I'm planning to make a couple more new dishes: a tortellini soup and a new Indian dish. And maybe some other things. The NY Times had a cooking article called something like "Dishes kids will eat" and I printed out three recipes from that. My kids aren't THAT fussy, but recipes for kids often turn out to be things that teenagers will eat too.
OK, I should finish this up and go to the store, plus Teen B has a ton
of homework, so we should work on that. It's important that he not flunk
all his classes, while applying to college. And I'd like to take a
walk. It's windy, but better than the "patchy, blowing dust" predicted
for tomorrow. And I'll wear shoes.
A couple days ago I took a walk, wearing the Keen sandals I've been wearing almost exclusively since May, and I got a splinter! I had to call Rocket Boy to come get me, so ridiculous. I get rocks in my sandals all the time, but I simply could not get that splinter out of my foot and it hurt! And I thought, once he has his surgery, he won't be able to come get me (for six weeks or so, something like that). I'd better start wearing shoes on my walks. So I will do so today.
Anyway, summer is over.
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