Odds-N-Ends
I have lots of random things to share and no cohesive way of doing it. Without further ado, some odds and ends (or odds-n-ends for the grammatically challenged and/or super-cutesy). Speaking of, check out June’s post on odds-n-ends.
Odd: I had back to back weekends of respite foster care (two different kids). I was a little apprehensive, but it all turned out ok. Yes, I’m behind on normal Christmas stuff, but I had great weekends with both kids. Who needs to put up a tree when you can build up a person instead?
Weekend 1 – I had a 14 year old boy who was so small it was heartbreaking. This kid is headed to high school next year and I sure hope he hits a growth spurt between now and then. Otherwise he is totally headed towards locker-stuffing. J is so sweet and good natured. It made my heart break when he prayed that God would help him grow and that he could get out of foster care and get back to his real mom. I know his regular foster mom and I know she’ll do well with him. What I didn’t know is that she doesn’t cook. Just by chance I picked an easy recipe thinking that J might want to help me in the kitchen. He was all about it! So much so that I’m keeping an eye out for other recipes that we can do together in the future.
Weekend 2 – I had Mr. Excuse Me again. Who approved of our pizza on Friday, but did not care for the Pioneer Woman’s Beef Stew. (Shout out to BooMama for turning me on to the recipe in the first place – it was delish!) The kid does not like mushrooms. Or the flavor imparted by red wine, even though I was careful to explain that the alcohol was cooked out. It’s funny that I have to be supercareful about that kind of stuff with foster kids. One comment from a kid about how I served him wine and all kinds of heck would break loose! Perhaps I should have made that stew with J instead. Next time.
Anyway, the best thing about Weekend 2 was SOCK MONKEY SATURDAY at the American Visionary Art Museum!
Hard at work sewing
R created his very own sock monkey with minimal help from me. We sat there completely focused for four hours working on them! Then we walked around the sculpture area outside before heading home.
Me with the mosaic bus
All of my pics of R’s sock monkey show R’s face, so I can’t share that with you. Sorry. It was super cute.
And I can’t show you my sock monkey because (KK, stop reading!) it might be headed to Reno for a certain 5 year old I know.
Now that I know of R’s love for crafts, I’ll be checking out the Crafty Crow for ideas for the future.
End: This weekend marked the end of my 10,000 step streak. Bitter cold, a long workday and a reluctant foster kid contributed to only 6000 steps on Friday. I guess I could have walked the hallways at home, but I didn’t want to scare my kid. Never fear, I did hit 10K steps on both Saturday and Sunday.
Odd: I slept weird the other night and my knee was killing me part of the weekend. And don’t you know that whenever your knee hurts, that is the day that you have the very most stairs to climb? Possibly while carrying a 30 pound dog? Or because your foster kid has a fear of elevators? There was a little praise session on Sunday when I realized the pain was gone. God is good!
End: Let’s end this post with an update on Cecilia. The meds appear to be helping, although I think they are supressing her appetite. Or perhaps she’s become finicky in her old age. Either way, it is apparent that her kibble is no longer enticing. She’s still all about treats and pretty much any people food. Tonight I’m on a hunt for more appealing kibble. Or maybe I’ll just get cat food. She loved Nina’s food when we were up at Thanksgiving. What gives?
End (for real this time): Cecilia got up Saturday night, wandered the hallway and then came back to bed. I thought she was checking in on R. But in fact she was walking to the guest bathroom and peeing on the rug. Which kind of cracks me up. Did she put two and two together and realize that that room is for pee? Or did she smell a little boy who may not be completely accurate with his aim? Either way, I’m grateful she selected a washable rug. Although I do feel badly that R stepped in it Sunday morning!
all things juice 
Oh my, Juice! that is a lot going on! I so admire your foster care stuff you do, and all the activities to make life great for a little while for these kids.
I have a miniature sock monkey that I absolutely love. It is all red, but the best part is that it belonged to one of my nieces when she was a little girl, and I kept saying how much I loved it, and she GAVE it to me. It sits on my desk all year.
For Cecelia. I don’t know if this would work. But I had a very old dog who wouldn’t eat kibble, so I started feeding her other stuff, but most of it was high in salt so it gave her CHF! So I found (vet recommended, I think) Science Diet canned food. It didn’t look as appealing as other dog canned food, but it smelled good, like tomato sauce, and she liked it, and it kept her from going into heart failure for quite a few years!
Do any of her new meds have steroids? That makes them pee more.
Hi Juice
you do have a lot going on!
Bless you for all your foster work and the care you put into it – it is so important.
Wow! Great work with the foster care respite. It sounds like the rewards go both ways on that one; the kids sound like a lot of fun to be with.
Our Bela is finicky in her old age, too. Or she has us on an elaborate training program, I’m not sure. She stopped eating her usual mix of canned/dry dog food, so we mixed the dry dog food with canned cat food. About a year or two later, she stopped wanting to eat it with the dry dog food…so we now mix it with dry cat food. Now she’s even getting finicky about that. *sigh*. Glad Cecelia’s meds are helping her, and that your knee is feeling better!
Science Diet canned food is gagworthy, but very, very good for her. I had a dog that got hit and had a broken paw. I always fed him SD dry food and within a very short time the vet said you couldn’t even tell the paw had been broken and he attributed it to excellent nutrition and tender loving care.
Back when I had one cat, she got Science Diet. Now, not so much. So sue me!
What a great blog… what a great daughter… !!!!!