I spoke with Waterloo Transmission on Friday about this freakin' van. The have figured out most of the problem. What I thought was the water pump was actually the A/C compressor or condenser. It was dark out and I'm not really a car guy. The bearings are shot and that's casuing the belt to hang up which in turn affects the alternator. They also figured out the check engine light and the stalling as well. Apparently, the other day a bulletin came through that described the exact problems that we have been chasing around for almost a year now. Turns out that something is wrong with the valve cover and something about oil seeping into the intake. Again, I'm not a car guy but I usedstand how that would be…

Lizze was invited to go to a concert with her mother and a few of her mother's friends. The concert is in another state, so it would be an overnight trip and they would be driving. She's asking me if she can go, like she needs my permission or something. However, she realizes that she would be leaving with a great deal of responsibility and I appreciate her considering my feelings in the subject. Ironically, my hesitation to agree to take on this challenge has nothing to do with having 3 boys on the Autism Spectrum to care for. Sure, doing this by myself would be tough but I've done it before and everyone survived. :-) Besides, she more than deserves this. My concern is the impact this trip would…

Emmett spent the night at Lizze's parents house last night. He came home a few hours ago and just now woke up from his nap. Life was relatively calm and quiet last night and for much ofbthis morning. With that said, within 5 minutes of Emmett coming home, the screaming and fighting resumed as though it had been paused during Emmett's absence. Emmett went down for his nap and peace returned to the house once again. However, within minutes of him waking up, the battles resumed once more. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Emmett's home because I miss him like crazy when he's gone. Having said that, it's clear that he is the source of most of the upheaval in the Lost and Tired household. I want to clarify…

Gavin has developed a really nasty cough. I don't know if it's asthma related or not. The immunologist told us when he gets like this we need to give him his rescue inhaler but it's not helping. We have very little experience with asthma so I'm unfamiliar with it outside of what I dealt with as a paramedic. The other concern that I have is, what if he's getting sick? What do you do for a child with no immune system of his own? I realize that this isn't anything new, but we know about it now so that changes everything. All I could try to do now is borrow my parents car and take Gavin tovthe ER. However, that will freak him out pretty bad and it may not…

I was wondering if your child is a perfectionist? We have struggles with this in the Lost and Tired household. All three of my boys have a tendency to want things perfect. However, Gavin is an absolute perfectionist, at least most of the time. Much of this stems from his abusive biological father. He used to tell Gavin things like "only losers make mistakes".  He had many more pearls of wisdom that he graciously bestowed upon Gavin, many along the same lines. Gavin, typically doesn't tolerate imperfection...especially from himself.  It seems that no matter how hard we work to overcome the whole perfectionist thing,  it just never seems to click. Do any of you folks ever deal with this sort of thing? If so, what have you done to work…

Today's victory is brought to you by Mr.  Elliott Richard's handyman service.  We have very, very old hardwood floors and the nails are popping out. These nails are are responsible for many socks meeting an untimely death.  Elliott decided to help address the problem.  He asked for my trim hammer and went around sinking all the nails he could find.  I supervised him closely but he did a very good job.  I try to make it a point to help my kids learn things that they will need to know later in life.  I encourage you all to do the same.

So,  I got a pretty big response to my post the other day about the fat squirrel.  In that post I mentioned that my neighbor feeds these guys little peanut butter sandwiches. Well,  this morning,  a black squirrel was sitting on my fence enjoying one of those sandwiches.  In fact,  it was so lost in this little sandwich,  that it didn't even notice me walking up to it to get the pictures.  I just thought,  you know,  if anyone had wanting to see a squirrel eat a little sandwich on their bucket list,  I'd help you scratch it off the list :-) Don't say I never did anything for you.   ;-)

I pretty excited about today's victory. Emmett and Gavin took turns while playing Kinect.  This never happens.  Emmett doesn't comprehend the whole concept of sharing,  so this typically doesn't go well.  Emmett took turns tonight with Gavin and they had alot of fun together.  Actually,  now that I think about it,  this is really a double victory.  I say that because Gavin actually did well also. Typically speaking,  Gavin and video games don't mix well.  With that said,  today was a victory that I'm quite excited about.  I'm especially proud of Emmett for taking turns so well.  Way to go guys.  :-)