Not a boring week

....Partaaay night....

It all started on Saturday when I headed out to an 80s disco night in aid of Assistance Dogs for Autism with some of the gang from the autie facebook group.  Dressing up was no problem as my favourite 80s clothes and accessories are kept up in the attic - they're 'vintage' now, so Angel borrows them!  I did consider posting up a few photos showing the leg warmers,  fingerless gloves, a fabulous mullet wig and acres of denim, but perhaps they're safer left on Facebook...

Sunday was spent recovering, mainly from lack of sleep.  And the only pain I could feel was in my back and my knees.

....Treatment....

Tuesday morning was spent baking a batch of chocolate cakes - my way of saying thank you to all the people who help me.  Then I headed out to get some treatment.  It turns out that my back is not too bad this time, but I really need more equipment to help me manage Smiley, and because it will be built into the house, I can't get it until my final separation agreement comes through.   

As for my other problem, well it turns out that I have housemaid's knee.  And please don't laugh all of you who know how rarely I can be found scrubbing floors.  I'd say it's another consequence of the physical effort required to look after Smiley.  Of course the cure involves rest - what's that? - as well as regular iceing to add to my 30 minutes of back exercises a day.  What is going to give?  Well this condition is also known as runner's knee, so no more running for me for now, which will enable my middle-aged spread to spread further.

....Travelling and protesting....

I excelled myself on Wednesday: after waving aspie boy off to summer camp Smiley and I headed off on a 140 mile round trip to a car dealer in Athlone to look at wheelchair accessible vehicles.  They're lovely helpful people but it was depressing.   They look at me as though I'm mad when I start asking about bhp.   We got back just in time to squeeze in lunch and toileting for Smiley before heading to the Dail to protest about proposed cutbacks to special needs education.  It was very hot and Smiley was not impressed when she realised that it was not a shopping trip.  But it was good to see friends and familiar faces there and the politicians seemed to be taking it seriously - some gave speeches in support and others talked to the families who attended, including us.  

 ....Lots of chocolate....

Thursday's highlight was a trip to a chocolate factory with Smiley and friends and family from the Rainbow Junior Arch Club.  We all learned something new about how chocolate is made, enjoyed lots and lots of samples and got to decorate our own teddies.  Definitely to be recommended.

A spare chocolate teddy bear was found for aspie boy, but he didn't want it: it was 'contaminated' after being decorated with white chocolate.  Someone had to eat it though and you know how good chocolate is for stress...in my defence it's not all gone yet... 

The trip was open to siblings, so aspie boy was invited. He said no of course, as he refuses to have anything to do with the club now.  Just before the trip the school rang to say he'd been hurt during some horseplay but was fine now.  When I got home he did not appear to be fine.  But this is a boy who asks for a plaster and magic cream over every spot and cut, who demands Nurofen for every ache and pain and complains bitterly about how unfair it is that he hurts himself every day - ie when he stubs his toe.

So I didn't know what to think.  But I watched him very closely overnight and surprise, surprise there's not a bother on him now...

....Harry Potter....

Three of us had been waiting for years for this day.  We were determined to get a really early viewing of the final Harry Potter film, so I booked tickets as soon as they became available.  The 10.30am viewing was perfect because Smiley was in summer camp and I could just take aspie boy out for the day.

But then he started to get anxious.  

He stopped going to the cinema last summer after being terrified by one of the trailers shown before a children's film.  And even though I offered to wait outside with him until the film started, he decided on the morning not to go, and went to summer camp instead. So it was just myself and Angel, which was lovely, especially as it rarely happens now.

And there were two more bits of good news... 

To go on chocolate factory trip I had to collect Smiley from summer camp, so before we left I put her on the toilet, to the surprise of the staff who had simply been changing her: her toileting programme was abandoned by the school some time ago due to time pressure as a result of cutbacks and changes, and I will blog about that soon.  Anyway an SNA came with me to the bathroom. She watched amazed as I placed a delighted Smiley directly on the toilet.  

This clearly made an impression because her home copy had this sentence in it today:
 

1 x BM in the toilet

I can't tell you how delighted I was to read that, and I'm just hoping that they keep putting her on the toilet.

Finally on Friday someone very close to me got the good news that the lesion that had been removed from her back in a hurry was completely benign, Phew!

I'm hoping next week will be a bit quieter, though that means more cleaning...

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