Cold Friday

Thank goodness for good old fashioned wired keyboards... I just put my bluetooth one in the waste basket as it was typing multiple letters for most key presses, even after charging and rebooting.  I have a new one on the way and I'm hoping the order of the keys to the left of the space bar is more intuitive than the one I just tossed... I had to paint my Command Key in red nail polish so it would get my attention, and even then I always had to look to see where it was.

Anyway.

It's Friday!  I'll visit a recently widowed friend at 1:30, pick up the kids after school and drop one off at work and the other off at art therapy, then go back to work.  At 4 I'll pick up the one kid from art therapy, grab a dog or two, and head to agility class.  After agility, I'm headed up the line to collect two house guests from Logan Express.  They have an appointment on Monday at MGH to discuss recently discovered lymphoma.

Coincidentally, the 15-year-old also has an appointment at MGH on Monday.  He's part of a study into a phenomenon called Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).  This is his last follow-up, and completes two years of participation which started with a very long day involving bloodwork, multiple MRIs to observe the brain as it encountered food visually and through smell and taste, and never-ending questionnaires.  He had a follow-up a year later, and this is the last piece.  He won't benefit from the research, but maybe someday we'll see a report on the results of the study.

Because of the OCD and some maturity, it's possible he's added a few more things to his diet while ruling out a few more.  Just yesterday from an article posted to Facebook I learned that there is a high level (parts per million) of some pesticide made by Monsanto in his beloved whole-grain goldfish crackers.  Due to some recent issues with constipation and his own research, the 15-year-old is giving up goldfish crackers (cheese being a contributor to intestinal slow downs).  It's really horrifying how much we don't understand about what we do to ourselves with food... "Organic" is expensive so while there are certain products I get "organic," I don't immediately head that way for everything, and I don't choose organic chocolate sandwich cookies over Oreos... It's easy to imagine that the various challenges my boys have could be related to Monsanto trying to make a buck by trying to help farmers make a buck, while we live underneath a power line that is strong enough to mess with compass needles.

It's really too depressing to dwell on.  Last night the local school had a presentation about vaping.  I went to understand what it was about.  It is thoroughly shocking how vaping flavors are being marketed, although apparently people are trying to get flavors outlawed.  Caramel apple?!  Horrifying to see all the possible chemicals you can get into your body by vaping, besides "just" nicotine, and the nicotine is intensely concentrated.  I'm very aware of the "blessing" of having my kids on devices and at home... The almost-17-year-old spends his money gaming, either with hardware or software.  The 15-year-old doesn't spend money at all!  And I always know where they are because that's just how the days are scheduled.

The almost-17-year-old recently bought a very special lighter.  It was made in the Ukraine from a WW2 bullet of some sort.  He was SO excited to get it that he used it a lifetime's worth on the first day he had it and broke it.  So then he researched all the parts needed to fix it and has it working again.  Why did he need a lighter?  Was he taking up smoking something?  NOPE.  He just wanted it because it was "cool."  Sometimes he likes to burn things (like leaves or a piece of paper) in a controlled fashion.  Mostly, he just sits at his desk and flicks it.

So, it's Friday and I love that it's Friday!  I love, Love, LOVE agility class and I think I'll take Chariclo to class and treat her like a regular dog, other than not jumping full height.  It will make Khione crazy to have to watch her get a turn, which will in turn make Khione's turn even more crazy than usual.  We'll certainly be entertaining.   Then I'll head down Rte 1 and if there's time I might poke around Kohl's.  Dinner for the house guests will either be leftover butternut squash lasagna or a free Domino's pizza, and I'll make homemade fried rice with tofu and veggies for John and me.

We have a visitor dog arriving for a few days — the world's largest dachshund, we call him — he's actually a mix, but the result of collie/bulldog/mini-dachshund turns out to be... Dobby!