Toilet Paper Safe

Several weeks ago, we signed the lease for our new abode and we were sitting around the dinner table discussing the home with it's many features.

Since the home has 2 and 1/2 baths, one in the master suite, one for the remaining bedrooms upstairs and a 1/2 bath or "powder room" downstairs, it was decided to lock the upstairs bath for use by the rest of the kids and leave the one downstairs open for Middle to use at all times, including the middle of the night.  What most people don't expect is the next conversation, that has been shamelessly borrowed from my husbands blog @Thoughts from the Asylum.

"The downstairs powder room will be left with a regular doorknob so that there is a bathroom that Middle can use whenever he needs it.
The question was raised, where are we going to keep the toilet paper in the downstairs bathroom?  Someone said we should get a safe.  I had to admit, that would keep the toilet paper secure.  Then someone said that the burglar who cracks that safe open is going to be very disappointed."

Which of course had us all in stitches.  Can you imagine the looks on the burglars face(s)?

Anyway, what we settled on was a locking two drawer filing cabinet.  Still makes it a target for thieves, but will be less likely to keep me from having to hand the phone over to someone else to finish explaining the theft to the police.

Truthfully.  Not sure how one would explain, how a safe theft would be quite that funny and hysterical because I'm chuckling just writing this, but then again, they don't live our crazy life.

That's the crazy for today.  Have a great one.

Button, button, who's got the button?

Let's just state that moving, packing and the subsequent unpacking are not my favorite activities.  With that being said, it all seems to be going somewhat fairly well.

We have tons of stuff unpacked, and most of it even has been put into a "home" location.  I am sure several things will move about as we settle in.

Our kitty seems to be the most well adjusted of all of the inhabitants.  She has been with me and the girls since she was a tuft of fur from the shelter (8 or 9 years ago).  Second on the well adjusted grouping seems to be Middle boy.  For an individual who is, by the "standards," supposed to dislike change of this magnitude, he seems to be the least affected.  He knows that there is a door now, with food behind it, that he wants.  How do I know this?

1. He has been fiddling with the key-pad to get into it, and
2. SOMEone left the door ajar when they got into it last, and made a mad dash with a very large handful of sour gummi worms.  He is watchful when he wants something.  Note to self:

Dear Self,
Leave some gummi worms in Middle's snack cabinet once in a while.

Thanks,
Yourself

We have since had a reminder to all household members to make sure that the door is securely shut when you get what you wanted.

While the majority of us may be struggling with "where is this," and "where is that," Middle and his photographic memory, goes to wherever he has seen something and simply gets it.  Like the glasses, if he wants a drink, he gets a glass, end of story, except that I have discovered, that he seems to prefer the small "rocks" glasses to the other sizes.

Well, that's the crazy for today, so far.

Happiness and safety are...

So, in my previous post I had talked about securing everything with locks. Specifically key-pad locks. Well, I believe my little family should own stock in Schlage, because just like Frank's Red Hot Sauce, we put that sh*t on everything.

What we love about Schlage products. 

Ease of installation, ease of use, they just look good and they are sturdy. We have tried other manufacturers and they have been complicated at installation or there was a step to remember to activate as you leave each time. Some just seemed...flimsy(?) I guess is the word or like something I would give a kid to play with, you know, toy-like. 

Again, we know most people use them externally, however for the safety of Middle Boy and the sanity/happiness of the rest of the family, we use them on internal doors. The other great thing? We can give the teens privacy while maintaining a parental override on these locks as well, thanks again to Schlage. I have a sneaky suspicion someone might be a parent on their development team. 

Safety features:  meds behind locked doors, anything we think he might think is "fun" but is actually harmful. 

Happiness features: toilet paper can be left out, shampoo and conditioner can be left out. We can control the food/snack situation for Middle, because in true teen fashion, he would eat his weight in junk food if we let him. 

So here are some pictures of our happy safe doors. 

Well, that's our craziness for the day. 

Conversation # 878

The move has occurred and we are as settled as we can be amidst the myriad of boxes. The Nanny was gracious enough to have Middle spend the night with her last night so that we could continue to secure the house, Middle is home tonight and doesn't show any signs of going to sleep soon, so....we secure the house for midnight meanderings. 

Conversation Husband and I just had:

Me:  Honey I need some tape.

Husband:  What kind of tape?

M: Just tape. Like packing tape or something.  I need tape for the garbage disposal. 

H: I have duct tape. Garbage disposal? Why?

M:  Duct tape works. I need to cover the switch because you know Ethan is going to be flipping switches all night. 

And there you have it. The weird conversations that are normal in my crazy house. 

Merry Christmas to everyone. 

Moving and Birthday's

So packing up the house has been a challenge. How much do we disturb the status quo and how much do we just say "screw it. Let's pack it n go!"  It has been a balancing act and one that has actually been more stressful, I think, on us "norms" in the house than anything, because even as much as Middle likes routine, he can be quite adaptable sometimes and this seems to be one of those times.

The other one struggling along with us adults, is Eldest boy. He has been putting off packing his room until basically yesterday and today. He came out yesterday, after a couple of boxes and announced, I wish I could just take out the important things I really want, and blow up the rest. 

Thankfully he does know that this is not an acceptable way of dealing with it, but let me tell you, it sure sounded like a great idea a couple of times today. 

Also amongst our crazy packing, today is Middle boys birthday. It IS official now, we have four teens. 

Well, that's our crazy for the day. You have a great one yoirselves. 

New house-Moving issues

So one thing that has happened, is that we, as a blended family, are too big for the home my husband had with his boys.  And I KNOW we weren't all going to move into my two bedroom apartment. So, we went on the hunt for a new house to rent.  One that would accommodate all 6-7 people, 2 dogs and a cat. OH and I shan't forget our partridge in the pear tree, our full-time care-giver for Middle Son, when we are not home and he is home from school.

Now, Hubby and I, could probably buy a house, but that is a WHOLE other story at this point, so...we'll hold off on that for now; for now, we rent.

Luckily we found a great house, in a nice neighborhood, with great schools for all of our kids needs.  I hope.

Said house is twice the size of our current house.  It has 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths and a nice large main floor with a living room, a family room, an eating area and dining room.  Large kitchen with a walk-in pantry included.  Woo! and Hoo!

Now, what could be the issue with all of this you ask?  Well, so far we have purchased over $450 in keypad and double keyed locks for the new house and the kids (and adults for that matter) are debating what duct tape will be used were and on what toilet.

Wait. What?!  Locks and duct tape?  What are you people doing??!?!?  Creepers right?

So, the double keyed locks are for the front and back door, because Middle Son hasn't figured out how to turn the key or possibly how far to turn them, to open the doors and escape to wander the neighborhood.

The key pad locks, which most people use on their external doors, WE use on interior doors, like bathrooms, bedrooms and our new walk-in pantry.  You have no IDEA how excited we are about the walk-in pantry.

We have, in the past, placed magnetic child locks (Tot Lok from Safety 1st) on all of the cupboards we did not want Middle getting into, however, he is now 5'8" and 160lbs of muscle-ish teenage boy and man-handles the doors open now, so the locks are not effective anymore (insert sad face here).

They worked fabulously, because when Middle wanted something, he would bring us a magnetic key and we just knew he wanted a snack. NOW...we are going to designate a cupboard that is unlocked, only for him and his approved snacks (he also likes to snack in the middle of the night as well) that we will now have to monitor to make sure he has something available to him.  Not a horrible thing, just new.  And new means getting everyone into a new habit, hard enough WITHOUT being autistic and ultra resistant to change.

Well, that's our current craziness.  Next...Duct tape for the Toilets.  Hmmm...I feel a poll coming on.

I must be crazy.

Most people when they meet me, think I am a little different to begin with.  I am not your typical middle-aged female, in that, I have a corporate type job and VERY visible tattoos, and a great boss/employer who believes that your IQ isn't tied to your physical features.  Yay me!

What is crazy to most people is that I met a wonderful man with 3 boys.  I happened to have 2 girls.  We met, hit it off, our kids seemed to like one another, he proposed, I said yes and we all lived happily every after. Right?  Well, if that were the case, this would be a very quick blog.  Put on the bow and call it a night. However...

Everything I said before is true, so far.  We are quite happy.  We met almost two years ago via the internet (Thank you very much OkCupid.com).  He was very open about having two boys with autism.  One has Asperger's, hereafter referred to as Eldest Boy, and the other profoundly autistic, hereafter referred to as Middle Boy.  Husband's Youngest Boy has developed normally as far as "normal" can be determined in this world.

Middle Boy does not speak or communicate in traditional ways.  He kind of signs and can point to what he wants for the most part.  What I also know about Middle, he has a wicked sense of humor, he is a happy, happy boy, he has opinions about many things, he also eats like any other, almost 13 year old boy. I say almost, because his birthday is this coming week. 

That will give Husband and myself four teens.  YIKES!

What I will be blogging about is my crazy life and the things that happen.  We have crazy things, that are considered "normal" around here, strange conversations that are "normal" around here, and other out of the ordinary stuff that just...happens.

So...welcome to my crazy life.