The Birthday Party

My youngest daughter came home from her dad's this week.  She had been over there for a month.  So I spent the week hanging out with her.  And getting ready for her birthday party which she had been planning for a little while (and by little while I mean for the last 6 months.)

This little girl of mine is so awesome.  She can plan an event perfectly...and she just turned 9.  She had everything down, including a schedule of events, a map of where everything would occur and a list of activities.  And all this within a very small budget.  I love how when someone with ADHD has a goal they are passionate about, so much can happen.


She did need my help for some of the preparations.  And I was not as passionately committed to her cause as I should have been.  Everything eventually got done, but in a haphazard sort of way.  Luckily my husband did not complain that he was unable to eat at the kitchen table all week long due to the many painting projects that were in progress.

And the kitten did not complain when I had to pull paper mâché out of her fur because I had stated that I knew exactly how to make a pinata.

So by the day of the party, we still needed to clean the house, paint and fill the pinata, finish up the games, organize the crafts, decorate the house and go to the store for some last minute supplies. 

Things were going well, until all of the sudden we found ourselves working on a complicated logic problem on the computer.  How did this happen and what did it have to do with our birthday party planning.

I was able to redirect my efforts and everything got done.  Including washing and folding every bit of laundry in the house.  Because you can't have a birthday party without clean clothes in your closets right?

Blogging

I'm trying to write a great blog post tonight.  My youngest daughter (who is the official knower of all things funny) declared that my last post wasn't so great.  So I wanted to redeem myself.  (Plus I really want to eat something terrible for me and I need to get myself distracted)

Here is how it's going.

I have a great idea...I'll start writing about it.

Oooh let me see what was just posted on Facebook.  I think I need to respond to that post.  Oh and look I was invited to a party that I cannot attend.  I'll respond no.  But then I need to explain why because I don't want her to think I just don't want to go.  I typed in my explanation, but I can't find it anywhere.  No matter, it'll show up in a bit.

Back to writing my blog.

Hmmm...better check if my post showed up.  I don't want to write it again in case it shows up twice.  What should I do?  I know, I'll send her a private message.

Okay...now back to blogging.

Ah, now she is chatting with me.  And I haven't talked to her in forever.  I really want to see how she is doing.  I can chat and write my blog all at the same time.

And look my other friend responded to what I said and needs a response from me.  Okay...got that done back to blogging.

Chat...blog....chat....blog....chat....blog.

Now my daughter needs some help running a bath.  So now I'm back and forth between the bathroom and the computer (Luckily they are pretty close to each other.)

Now it's chat....blog...conversation with daughter in the tub (who is giving me a play by play of the cat trying to get in the tub with her)....chat....blog....conversation....you get the picture.  (I hope because I can't figure out how to draw that picture.)

I think I kept up okay on the chat.  I was able to say ok and laugh at the appropriate times for my daughter, but the blog is incoherent.  I'll try again tomorrow.

Focused Friday: Dude...Where's My Phone?

When I started this blog I wanted to have one day a week dedicated to the positive aspects of ADHD and/or ways to cope with it.  I had a few stumbling blocks.  First what to call it.  It had to have a name before I could write it.  Then I had to remember to write the post on the correct day (I know I could do it before hand and just post it on Friday, but I haven't gotten that organized yet.)

But now I have a name and I remembered to write the post and I am posting this on the right day.

So here goes.

My husband recently brought it to my attention that I lose my phone...a lot.  This statement actually surprised me because it seems like my phone is something I hang onto very well.  I use it for everything and I am constantly making sure I have it.

But last night I needed my phone for an important task.  And I could not find the phone.  I looked in the usual places and even out in the car.

I asked my husband to call it.  We could not hear it ring.  I remembered the last time I used it and so knew it wasn't lost forever.  It had to be around here somewhere.

And then we found it in the bathroom.  I had left it there when I went to wash my hands after cleaning up the cat poop.  I don't consider that losing my phone, but my husband had a point.  He has to call my phone to help me locate it at least once or twice a week.  And I have probably done that for him once....if that.  So I would say I misplace my phone often.  Losing it would be leaving it at the store or library or on top of my car and driving off.

I used to lose my purse and keys all the time as well.  At least I used to misplace them.  Although I went through a phase where I was leaving the keys on top of the car and driving off.  I'm not sure how I drove off with my keys on top of the car, but I distinctly remember looking for my beat up keys on the street more often than I would like to admit.  Luckily those days seem to be over.

But I finally figured out a way to not misplace my purse anymore.  I gave it a home.  I know this sounds incredibly basic for the non-ADHD person, but for me it was a completely foreign idea.  I always came home and plopped my purse wherever.  It did not have it's own special spot.

I went to the store and bought cubbies and assigned each person in the family a cubby.  That is where shoes, purses, hats and all things important for leaving the house were to stay.  And for me when my purse came off my shoulder I made myself put it in the cubby, no matter what.  And after a while it actually became a habit.

For me it has been a life changing event.  I no longer have to search for my purse and keys.  They are always in the cubby.  The time saved for looking for my purse has given me time to do more important things, like check Facebook, write a blog or finish that last level on that iPad game.

Unfortunately this strategy does not work for my phone.  But I'm not too bothered by how much I misplace it.  My husband can always call it for me right?  And as soon as I found my phone I realized I could not remember what the super important task was I needed to do.  But I know exactly where my purse is...so all is well!!

ADHD vs. OCD An exhaustive study involving my cats

We have three cats.  One cat pees on the carpet so she is an outside cat.  The other two are inside cats.  We have the new kitten Abby and the old fat cat Tigger.  (I realize I have already established this fact, but just wanted to make sure my new readers were "in the know" :-)

(I bet you were surprised that Tigger is orange...weird right?)

Abby the kitten is the epitome of ADHD.  She has all three facets of ADHD.  She is distracted...I can call her and she starts to come, then she sees a piece of paper on the floor and decides to pounce on that instead.

She is impulsive...She decides at the last minute that it would be a great idea to jump from the table to the top of the bookshelf and falls to the floor instead.

She is hyperactive...she can go up the stairs in less than a second and she finds it amusing to bite your toes and jump around crazily on the bed at 2am.

Tigger on the other hand is OCD.  Things have to be just right for him.  If you are wearing black he ensures that it is covered in just the right amount of fur.

If you don't make the bed he will not sleep on the sheets.  He will find a section of the comforter to sleep on.

If you clean up all the puke he has recently placed strategically on the floor he will work overtime to get it back right where you are sure to step in it when getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

And he is also determined.  I have allergies.  One of the things I am most allergic to is cats.  Why do I have cats you ask?  Because I can.  And I really like cats...most of the time.  I take lots of allergy medicine anyways...so as long as I continue it (by not forgetting to pick up the prescription at the store for a week and wondering why my eyes look like I've been crying for the last 3 days) I'm fine.  The one thing I require is for the cats to not sleep by my head.  I wake up stuffier if a cat sleeps by my head all night so that is something I will not tolerate.

Tigger is persistent...every single night he tries to sleep on my pillow with me.  It's like his OCD is saying, "here is where I must sleep for the universe to keep in balance."

He never ever sleeps on my husbands pillow.  Ever.  Even though he is welcome there.  And he is also immovable.  When I try to shoo him off he puts down some electromagnetic force and it is impossible to get him to move.  Then I try and lift him.  His claws extend and he will bring the pillow with him if I manage to get him up.

This happens every night.  You would think he would get the message that I do not want him there.  All he is learning is how to be sneaky about it.  If I'm awake he will casually walk up to the head of the bed and if I say NO he plops down and gives me a look that says, "what...I was just going to lay down right here, by your side...I had no intention of going up to your pillow."  If I say no enough he will eventually give up and go down by my feet.  And then I wake up in the middle of the night and there he is curled up around my head. 

And then I yell at him which wakes up Abby who then goes into a hyperactive fit and starts jumping all over me and biting my toes. 

Chocolate and Dinosaurs

We went on our little road trip.  And it was the type of road trip I have always dreamed about.  The kind where I see something I want to stop at and we actually stop at it.  I've been on many road trips before, but never with someone I like so much as my husband.  (We have only been married for two years). 

Day one of the road trip was extreme ADHD awesomeness for me.  We got up really early...well really early for me...standard time for my husband.  We wanted to get all the way out of town before morning rush hour.

Notice in the picture it's so dark you can't even see us in the car.

We started out and I looked on my phone for where the hotel was so we had a general idea of how long this would take.  I looked it up and went hmmmm.  The hotel wasn't exactly where I thought it would be when I booked it.  After all the time and care I put into booking the hotel you would have thought I knew exactly where it was...apparently not.

It was okay because now we had two different ways we could go to our destination.  Feeling adventurous we both decided that we would take the route that neither of us had ever gone before.  And as a bonus the map stated this route was faster.  So off we went.


First off, the map lied...maybe the route was shorter, but it took us through every small town.  But this was a good thing, much more adventures could happen in small towns than on the highway.


So we were driving for a while and I notice a town name that I had been to before.  In my head we weren't anywhere near that town...but here it was.  And this town had real live dinosaur footprints that we could go look at.  My husband loves dinosaurs so we decide this would be a great thing to go do.  Then we looked at the clock and saw that it was 7am.  Hmmm...would the dinosaur footprints be open this early? 

We decided to check it out and lucky us, it was a state park and it was open.  Off we went to look at footprints.  And we got to see the footprints...in their original state (not moved to a museum) and we could walk right up to them.  It was surreal being able to go and put our feet by them (we didn't put our feet in the footprints because they were all filled with water, but we could have).  It was amazing that they weren't all cordoned off and kept away from actual visitors.

After we spent about an hour looking at footprints we resumed driving.  Our route took us through a small town where we had to make a turn.  Small towns love doing that.  Make you turn to keep on your route.  But we were stopped at a light and off to my right I saw a sign that said chocolate store.  Chocolate is one of my most favorite things in the whole wide world.  So I asked if we could stop there.  Chocolate is also one of my husband's most favorite things in the world.  So he happily obliged.  He even performed the u-turn that is usually reserved for me in order to take me to the chocolate.

We only had to wait 15 minutes for the store to open.  We went inside and were in chocolate heaven.  I knew I wanted to buy stuff, but what stuff?  There was so much to choose from and I couldn't afford to buy the entire store.

We browsed for a while and made our choices.  As we were checking out the cashier told us the place they make the chocolate was nearby and they had free samples.  I looked at my husband and said...um yeah...we will definitely be checking that place out.


We went to the factory and it was a cute little place where they handmade this wonderful stuff.  We talked to the chocolate maker for a bit and had lots of free samples.  Chocolate is a wonderful way to start a morning.

**And no, that is not a ball of poop in my hands...it is absolutely wonderfully yummy chocolate.

We continue driving and pass a cave.  We both want to go check out the cave, but we are hungry, very hungry.  And we are close to our hotel.  So we decide to check in, eat and then go back and see the cave.  As we are eating we look up to see how close our hotel is to where we actually wanted to be for sightseeing.  I figured about 20 minutes.  Turns out it was an hour away.  So much for all my hotel research.  But on the bright side the hotel was on a lake and it was beautiful.  And close to a cave.  It worked out perfectly.

Packing...sorta

I'm getting ready to go on a mini road trip with my sweet husband soon.  I'll be really busy the last couple of days right before the trip and we plan on leaving early in the morning for the trip so I need to pack several days in advance.  At least that would make sense.

The trip will be short so I don't need to pack that much even.  But my ADHD has kicked in.  Even though the trip will be very quick, there is so much to be done before I can pack.

 (The kitten loves suitcases.  She is always hiding in them when we are trying to pack them.  I swear one day we will get to our destination and out will pop Abby!)

For example:

-Every speck of laundry must be done before I can even think about packing.  It doesn't matter that I'll only be packing for a couple days, it all must get done first.

-The kitchen must be clean before I go (usually it's the whole house but this time even I realize that isn't going to happen :-)

-My sewing project that I am in the middle of must be finished because I want to bring it with me.  (It's a new purse)

-All my schoolwork must be finished before I leave (Even the stuff not due yet)

-A new swimsuit must be purchased before I can go (Even though it looks like it will be raining).

That is all I can think of right now, but it is enough.  I can't seem to pack because of these holdups.  It's frustrating really.  All I need is a couple of outfits and my shampoo right?  And my newly made purse and my swimsuit.  Oh and my phone and charger and my camera and some snacks and a book and a jacket if it gets cold (yeah right...cold...who am I kidding?) and I'm sure I will forget something.  It wouldn't be me if I didn't forget something and make my husband come back for it.

This is a vacation...it's supposed to be relaxing...and it will be...as soon as I can get packed.