Fazoli's dude who may have been the manager.

The bonus to staying in small town Ohio these last few days is that I get to go to stores and restaurants we don't have at home.  Like Tim Horton's and Fazoli's.  Max and I went there for lunch today.  Do you know they give you breadsticks with every order?  The really good soft on one side and crispy garlic flavored on the other side kind.  Yum, yum, yum.  Since we don't have on at home, we don't eat there often.  So we didn't know the combo deal....until AFTER I paid.  Fortunately, the guy, whose name I forgot to ask, checked our bill and refunded it.  I think he might have been the manager.

Thanks for the refund!

Matt

Almost 2 years ago Matt came back from a convention with a kindle he won in a drawing.  Reading novels is kind of like dessert as far as Matt is concerned.  Not tops on his list.  Just like he always gives me his dessert, he gave me his kindle.  Why am I bringing this up now?  Because I am spending 4 days in small town middle Ohio while max takes a class.  I have renewed appreciation for my kindle which has allowed me to keep from being bored.  It is also nice to be able to carry 4 days worth of books in my purse (I read fast.)

Matt, still loving the kindle.  Thank you.

Luke @ Steak n' Shake

That is where we ate tonight.  Luke was our waiter.

Thanks Luke.

Mom

Thanks for stepping in for Max's latest adventure.

Michael at Target

Max's big 18 is next week.  Boys are much harder to buy a gift for those occasions.  Josey came up with a random inspirational present.  Don't want to give it away, but Michael @ Target was a huge help in tracking it down and giving me a line on Max's next job.

Kaylie @ Soak City

We bought gold passes last year,which we renewed this year.  Except, that my and Josey's picture somehow got switched.  Something we supposedly corrected a few weeks ago.  Except that when we went to the park today, my card came up as not valid.  Grrrr.  When we went to the sales office, one of the girls said it was fine.  I said I was told it wasn't, so she got a supervisor (nice girl, red hair, keeps her cool with disgruntled patrons) who fixed our cards.

Thanks Kaylie.

Lobenstein Farm lady

UC Raymond Walters had their farmers market tonight.  They have them every Thursday and I never remember until it has closed up for the evening.  Tonight, I remembered.

Kroger's use to be no bigger tham what CVS is today.  Fruits and vegetables were canned or frozen unless they were in season and you bought them from a person who grew them.  Now, you can have anything almost anytime.  I almost forget that there really is a distinct flavor difference between mass market and locally grown.  Until I taste something from the farm and then I remember there is nothing better.

Today, I bought some tiny but tastey peaches.  Red tomatoes that, much to the surprise of the Lobenstein lady, I did in fact bread and sautée.  After I paid, she told me the farm was in Indiana.  That Was all  I needed to hear and I knew I had to buy a melon because the best ones come from Indiana.

Thank you Lobenstein farm day for selling me delicious fresh produce.

Dad

Thank you.  You know why.

Jodi @ Petco

This morning I decided to buy some more training treats and a training tab.  The tab is a tiny piece leather or fabric that you attach to a choker.  I stopped in Petco to buy one.  They didn't have one.  I know that because Jodi walked all over helping me look.  She also helped me find an adequate replacement for a reasonable price.

Thanks Jodi.

Matt

My backyard has a hill in the back that slopes towards my house.  When I bought the house a year ago, there were some soggy spots in the yard.  The people behind me have redirected every downspout on their house and detached garage toward my yard.  By this summer, my garage was getting soaked every time it rained.  Matt came up with a plan to fix it. Even better than thinking of a plan, he has worked really hard to make it happen.  Today it POURED!!!  My garage stayed dry.  We aren't finished with the work yet, but I am so thankful that Matt helped me.


As nice as that all is...the very, very best part.....he showed me how to use the excavator.  He said, "You can do this baby."  Sorry, but not a lot of men will share the really good toys, and fewer will compliment you by saying, "You're doing better than I did."  He said he was proud of me, an I am kind of proud of myself.

Matt, thanks for all of the above.

Mom & Dad

Thank you for helping entertain children today, transport them, and provide diet cokes to make today's special outing enjoyable.  Too exhausted from the yard project to say more.

Josey

MAJOR backyard project.   I'm so sore I can only hunt and peck with one finger.  Josey made sanwiches, lemonade, and was in charge of dialing 911 if the need arose.

Thank you Josey for helping.

Steve @ Papa John's

After 5 hours roasting at the pool, I just couldn't face making dinner.  So we swapped Friday pizza for Thursday pizza yesterday.  Of course, 3 teenagers can't agree on what to order or from where to order it.  I take that back.  Sam I agreeable to anything and everything once he hears the word "pizza."  When the kid with autism is the easy child, you know you are in trouble.

We finally came to a Papa John's consensus.  I called and ordered.  Holy expensive, Batman.  So I said to the guy, I have 3 teens.  2 eat this, one eats that, and I'm a vegetarian.  He figured out the best ways to make it a reasonable meal.  Which is why I will be going back there again.

Thanks Steve!

Mr. Allan

On Tuesday, I found a puddle of water pouring out of my dishwasher.  Of all the household chores on the world....washing dishes is my least favorite.  Mostly because I have eczema and it makes my hands bleed.  So I went to my go to guy and called Mr. Allan.  Everybody needs a reliable, honest repairman.

Thanks for getting out and fixing my dishwasher Mr. Allan.

Mike Rowe

One thing I absolutely did NOT want to do with this blog is start writing silly pie in the sky kind of "thank yous."  You know, like "Brad Pitt, thank you for being so good looking" or "Katie Holmes, thank for making the day of every woman getting divorced...you are our hero!" I use to hang with somebody who worked for celebrities.  Based on his stories, I think they are a creepy weird bunch.  However, I came across something today that I felt was thank you worthy.

Let me come clean right now....I had no idea who this man was until a Facebook friend "shared" a post by him.  When I went to his website, the Mike Rowe Works Project, I became all about Mike Rowe.  If you read my May 31st post, you know why.  I am sure that I am the only person in North America who isn't already familiar with the project.  But just in case, here is an explanation directly taken from his website:

"The mikeroweWORKS Foundation is concerned with promoting hard work and supporting the skilled trades in a variety of areas. Primarily, we award scholarships to young men and women who have illustrated both an interest and an aptitude around mastering a specific trade. Qualified candidates include those students who are part way through an accredited trade school or apprenticeship program, and need financial assistance."

I am a school based speech language pathologist working with students ages 3 to 22.  College, college, college is all I ever hear anybody say.  I am supposed to be cramming this down the throats of my students as well as my own children.  When Josey was in 6th grade, she came home distraught over a single grade, on a single test, in a single class that was lower than she had hoped.  I knew she had studied.  This particular kind of test just happened to be hard.  When I told her I wasn't mad because I knew she had studied and tried her best, her response was, "You don't understand!  If I don't get good grades, I won't get into a good college like Harvard."  At that point I explained that, first, as a single mother recently returned to the work force I didn't have the money for her to go to Harvard.  Second, statistics show that Harvard gets you more money upon graduation, but the further you are from your graduation date, the more it becomes about proving your ability.  Really.  This is a conversation I had with my child WHO WAS IN 6TH GRADE!!!!!!  Obviously, her concerns over higher education did not come from me.

Here is the thing.  I have a masters degree.  My ex-husband has a high school diploma.  I currently make 25% of what he makes.  (That sound you just heard was any recent college graduate looking at his or her student loan bill and crying out in pain.)  That is not to say that I regret my degree.  It is a prerequisite in order to be a speech language pathologist.  Since that is what I wanted to be when I grew up, at 38, I had to get one.  That doesn't mean a college degree is necessarily the key to lifetime happiness for every human being on the planet.  I think being paid to do something you enjoy is the key to happiness.  Not birthday party, cake and ice cream happiness.  I mean satisfied with your life and secure in who you are happiness.

Today Mr. Allan came to fix my dishwasher.  He is an appliance repairman.  We have been through 3 homes together.  I remember him telling me once that we are closing in on the last generation of people who know how to fix and build things.  When the gasket on my dishwasher came loose and spewed water all over my kitchen, I was sorry I didn't know how to fix things.  The check I wrote him was far less than the cost of a new dishwasher, but definitely a nice chunk of change for about 20 minutes of work.  Reality?   He makes more in an hour than I do. It's a good think I feel satisfied and secure as a speech language pathologist.

Mr. Rowe, thank you for raising awareness about skilled labor.  It is high time we returned that term to mean respectable employment instead of 2nd class citizen. 

JoAnn @ Kroger's

Somebody sent me a gift certificate to Target  a few weeks ago.  I used it today to purchase various frivolous end of summer items.  One of them was an ice cream maker.  It was on sale....how could I say no?  Unfortunately, you need rock salt to make it work.  I had bought all my cream, bananas, and milk when I remembered the rock salt.  JoAnn said she didn't think they had any left.  She actually went and looked herself to make sure.  They didn't.  So she and the cashier next to her gave me a list of places to try.  Based on their suggestions....SUCCESS!!!  Tomorrow we will celebrate with homemade banana ice cream.

JoAnn, thank you for checking the store for my rock salt and then suggesting some other places to try.  They won't do that at Wal-Mart!

Girl @ Noodles

Tonight, Max was at work and Josey was at a friend's.  that left Sam and I alone for dinner.  We went to Noodles because it is my favorite and Sam really likes their spaghetti and meatballs.  The staff are always very nice and patient while Sam gets his order together on his AAC device.  Monday at 5 was no different.  The girl did not have a name tag, but she has waited on us many times before.

Girl at Noodles, thank you for being so patient when you waited on us for dinner on Monday.

Jill

Many years ago, I joined a playgroup that was the best group ever because it was for the moms!  As our kids grew older, careers changed, people moved and/or divorced, the dynamic changed.  But the very wonderful people I met stayed the same.  Friday, Matt called on his drive out to see me.  I mentioned I on Facebook and Jill, whom I haven't seen in some time, offered to help.  Is that the best or what?

Jill, thanks for offering to ge Matt if he needed it.

Martini who isn't

Martini any more.  Even though she lost a very cool name....she gained  a very nice man.  So who can blame her?

Amy, thank you for inviting me to your very special day.  I thought it was a wonderfully unique and fun event.  Loved the personal touches.  Made me a little jealous.

Scott and Dana

I have 3 tons of gravel to move.  Until today, I had no wheelbarrow to move it.  My neighbor was nice enough to offer me theirs.

Thank you neighbor!

Jen

Ok, this backyard project is a major undertaking.  There are trenches, and gravel, and landscaping bricks....OH MY!!!

Jen was nice enough to offer up her truck for me to move the bricks.  When I said how many I needed, the Home Depot guy said that it was too much weight for the one ton pick up to make in one trip, it would take 4.  Jen was nice enough to say yes, I have enough sense to say no.  Especially since the guy told me it could be delivered.  Something nobody else mentioned the other 8 trips I made for my front yard project already this summer. 

Jen, thank you for offering to do this.  In my book, saying "sure" with a smile is as good as doing it.

J.J.

I am having some issues with run off from the house behind me.  Part of the issue is that several years ago, they apparently added onto the house which significantly increased the roof size.  The other issue is that they have run every gutter downspout so it points towards my yard.  I am working in phases to divert the torrential downpour from coming into my garage and moving into my yard.  At which point I will work on moving it out to the street where it belongs.  Phase one is trench digging.  If you know one person you can call to help you dig a 2 foot wide, 2 foot deep trench when the head index is over 100, you are a very lucky person.  I called someone who helped me dig TWO!!!!

J.J., thanks for helping me dig, dig, dig like the seven dwarfs on meth. 

Shea & Trista @ Old Navy

Old Navy was having a 30% off sale on line.  It is the cheapest way to buy jeans.  I ordered some, but decided they were going to be too short after I washed them.  Nothing worse than boot cut floods.

I couldn't find the right ones, so Shea started to help me.  Then he handed me off to Trista who finished things up.  Both were extremely nice and helpful.

Thanks for providing great customer service and preventing me from embarrassing my 13 year old by wearing (gasp) mom jeans!!!!!

Matt

The fabulous Mr. L was even more fabulous this weekend.  He put in a new light on the front of  my house.  Changed the lock on my back door.  He cut down branches.  Cleaned my gutters.  Cleaned my patents gutters.  He also helped me weed my overgrown, awful, out of control yard.  On top of that, he took me out for Mexican and to a gown up place to listen to live music.  He was happy to go to church with the kids and I.  Not once did he complain when we had to keep changing our plans to accommodate Max's work schedule.  Best of all.....he is coming back again this weekend.

Matt, thank you for spending time with me this weekend.

Jason Home Depot

I designated this summer as the summer I would fix my yard.  The most challenging thing is the space in the back right corner.  It is sloped so that water goes right into my garage during heavy rainfall.  I am in the process of fixing that by installing retaining walls and terraced gardens.  Any project worth doing gets worse before it gets better.  This is no different.  I started digging which left a big muddy mess which will continue to get muddier before I am finished.  I needed to do something relatively cheap to keep Stella the wonder dog from bringing the muddy mess outside into the house.  Home Depot to the rescue yet again.  Jason helped me find some orange temporary fencing to keep the dog out.  He also helped me find something to use for posts.  Unfortunately, I am a typical girl who does not judge distances well (as documented by the number of dents in my car bumpers.)  I did not purchase enough of the posts (my fault, not Jason's.)  Personally, I think the candy canes add a festive feel to the entire project! 

Jason, thanks for helping me find the right materials for my temporary fence (that would be the green pole and the orange mesh.)  So far, so good in keeping the dogs out of the mud puddles.

Heather @ Panera

Friday, Josey and I had a little girl's lunch out.  We went to Panera.  Apparently, they were a little behind in getting the orders up and out.  Heather, who I'm guessing was a manager, gave out cookies to make up for it.

Heather, thanks for the chocolate chip cookie.  It was delicious.

Rozzi

Well, as you can see by reading yesterday's post, 4th of July fireworks were a huge deal at our house this year.  Any time your nonverbal child with autism verbalizes, it is a big deal.  No idea why he was so about seeing fireworks this year, I am just thankful they motivated him to talk.   I had my doubts we were going to see them because of the rain, but Rozzi pulled through and as always....they were spectacular!!!!!   We are very lucky to live in the city where the best fireworks in the world are made.

Rozzi, thank you for pulling the show together in spite of the weather.  You made the 4th of July for one boy and gave his mom the chance to hear his voice.

Max

Sam has been saying "Fourth of July.  Fireworks"  for like, a week.  You have to understand that the 4th of July is one of those "dreaded" autism holidays.  There is really nothing redeeming about it for kids with autism. Parades.  Fireworks.  Closed businesses.  It is nothing but one big, schedule disrupting, loud annoying mess.  I knew we had turned the autism corner when Sam talked about the 4th of July with a smile on his face.  I knew when he voted to go to the parade....in the rain....instead of staying home it was a big day.  I knew when he asked for fireworks...I needed to deliver.  Our city fireworks at 10pm.  Max picked up at 12.  If he finished work early, we could just watch fireworks there instead.

It rained all day.  Not a yucky, drizzle kind of rain.  It was a frog choking, ducks running for shelter, check your basement for puddles kind of rainy day.  Max was being sent home at 10 because the park was closing early....and cancelling the fireworks.  UGH!

Here is my thank you, and quite frankly, an abashed brag about what an amazing young man lives in one of the bedrooms upstairs.  I asked Max if he would might waiting to be picked up so that Sam and Josey could see the fireworks.  He said no problem.  I thanked him when we finally picked him up at 10:45.  He said, "I didn't want you guys to miss it.  You talked about it all day."  Is that sweet or what? 

Max, thank you for being such a genuinely sweet, good hearted boy.

Dad

My dad is not the type of guy to go to a kid's movie.  In fact, my dad rarely goes to the movies at all.  The only thing he is less likely to do than go to a cartoon movie is go to a cartoon movie on the spur of the moment.  Unless Josey is involved.  Then he is as happy to go as she is to invite him.

Dad, thanks for coming out to see Despicable Me 2 with us.  I know it made the movie for Josey.

Judy @ Target

I know.  You are shocked to see yet ANOTHER employee of Target thanked.  What can I say?  We shop there a lot.  Can I help it if they have delicious popcorn, cutting edge (or at least super cheap) fashion, and all the games a teenage boy could want?

My hallway closet door does not always close tightly.  Why is this a problem?  Because that is where we keep Stella's dog food.  We have found her face first, munching away with that little mop of a tail wagging full force, on more than one occasion.  Chez Target had the perfect answer for us, I dog food keeper.   John Boy has one a big chain pet store, but I needed it to have specific dimensions in order to fit in the storage bench where we keep it.  The one from Target was WAY cheaper and does the job just fine.  We also bought a few other items.

When we got to check out, I said we didn't need a bag, we could just throw it all in the doggy storage bin.  Judy gave us 5 cents off purchase for having our own bag.  How awesome is that?  I didn't even know Target did that.

Judy, thank you for the discount.  It's the kind of thing that keeps us coming back to Target.

Jenny

I was reading a very creepy, dark book called the "Hangman's Daughter."  It was even creepier once I found out that the author was actually related to a real hangman family in Bavaria.  It wasn't a true story, but the details of the torture were apparently accurately depicted based on documents handed down from through his family.  After that, I needed something light.  Jenny is my go to person for books.  I have no idea how many books she reads a year, but it's a lot.  I texted.  she responded.  I downloaded it on my kindle and am ready to go.

Jenny, thank for the recommendation.  I'm sure it won't be the beach trash I requested, but I have no doubt I will enjoy it.