Mik's North Pole Village 2014 Version

Mik was concerned his whole village wouldn't fit on the dining room table. He was already starting to think about no longer expanding it except for really really cool new ones and/or perhaps having to do a rotation in and out of some buildings each year.

No worries, though, as I got them all to fit and there is clearly still room for some expansion. However, he still is going to stick with only getting a new one if one pops out to him as cool instead of going searching for an interesting retired one like we've done the years nothing new comes out that really clicks for him.

Happy Pierogi Day (a.k.a. Mik's Thanksgiving)

Yesterday Mik asked how many pierogis I had made and instead of counting them I just said more than enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thus, that's what he decided we're having for Thanksgiving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Switch and Outlet Plates for Our Condo

Back in 2012 I painted the outlet and switch plates for Mik and my rooms in our house in Arizona.  I meant to eventually do the whole house, but then we moved to Alabama.  Again, I planned to do them in that whole house, but that got forgotten and the only special ones there are the farm brand and heart shaped ones I had before the move.

When I mentioned to Mik that I was going to paint mine blue and that we should paint/decorate all the ones throughout our new condo, he at first did not know what I was talking about.  As soon as I reminded him about how I had painted them in his room back in Tucson, he got very excited about the idea.  I even suggested I try to get fancy and do sports themed ones for our living room, which is going to be sports themed with mostly the All the Ballparks souvenirs and other baseball stuff.  We agreed that my efforts at the fancier ones may stink, but we could just buy new plates or get some on Etsy or something if they ended up looking bad.  However, I think they turned out pretty awesome, although there's a chance he will veto keeping one of them.

Currently, I have finished all the ones in the bedrooms and the bathrooms and about half of the ones in the living room/entry.  The other ones in the living room may just end up being concealed by furniture, but I only did not do anything because I ran out of ideas for now.  The kitchen and dining room also need to be done.  No ideas for them at the moment other than leaning towards more creative like the living room ones and they will be Disney themed as that's the theme we have chosen for that part of the condo.

I've had a penguin bathroom theme in most places since my first house after college including the bathroom I shared with Mom and Dad in Huntsville having my penguin shower curtain.  I painted the light switch plate to be like an iceberg and the outlet cover to be a penguin.

Mik's bathroom already had a purple wall and we decided to keep it because in Alabama he has a painting with purples that he currently has in his bathroom because it does not go with the colors of his art collection in his room.  Also, purple is one of the Lakers colors.  He did not actually decide on what to do for the bathroom, but I think he'll like what I chose.  If not, I'll change them.

Mik did choose his colors for his room. He has one red wall and he choose a turquoise for the covers on that wall.  I think this combination turned out very awesome.  Might even have to rethink putting his entertainment center on that wall because that would cover up the outlets and they just look so good.

The rest of the covers in his room are red like the red wall.  This one, though, is in the hallway entry to his room and I added a coat of glow-in-the-dark paint.  It does not really glow because I only put one coat on and I wasn't sure he would like how it changed the color. Might end up adding more coats so it really glows or just make it red like the rest depending on what Mik wants.

I bought a pack of MLB collector's stickers that are random ones like trading card packs to see what I would get that I could maybe use to make some fun switchplates for the living room.  I ended up with a Nolan Ryan, which fits the theme with him being one of Mik's favorite pitchers of all time and the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center being one of the places we went on the Ballpark Trip.  I also ended up with an Angels sticker as well as a Mets player and a Rangers player that I cut the team logos from.  If only, I had gotten an Astros player, then I could have had logos for all the teams he played for.  I painted it over it all with Glow-in-the-Dark paint. This one has enough coats that it can glow, but it is in a spot that doesn't have a nearby light, so it doesn't really get charged up.

Since Mik is big into basketball, I painted one outlet cover like a basketball and the light switch plate on that wall is supposed to resemble a backboard.  The basketball came out good, but I don't know if the backboard will make sense without explaining.

I made a Washington Nationals light switch plate using some nail art stickers Mom found when we were out buying paint.  This one is also painted with glow paint and it is in the entryway with a light above it, so it does end up glowing.  This is the one Mik might end up not agreeing to keeping, but I am hoping it won't be hard to sway him to allowing it to stay because I did make him a Nolan Ryan one and a basketball one.  Plus, there are still covers to do in the entryway and if I can just find something that works I will make one Dbacks themed.

Our Disney Yard Decor and Penguin Army Patio Style

We did not want to move any furniture on our initial trip to our condo to allow for easy painting and installing new flooring in the bedrooms.  Since we did not have to do anything to the patio, I did bring most of our collection of Disney Yard decorations.  Only things I did not bring were the grumpy plant (not going to be here to water the dill in it, so left in Alabama for now) and the lighthouse (I thought it might be too big, but it will go great in the corner I took the above panorama from).

 

I also brought some of the penguin army, which Mik says I cannot have on the patio except as a seasonal decoration, but for now he is not here and I have six on the patio (Christmas in July is coming up, right?). The ones I took were the extra sitting on the porch since we took them out of the yard after Christmas and the rest Dad would not let me take because they look good in front of the fake garage door in Huntsville.  Eventually I will move them all here and I will probably have to keep them in the storage unit except for December.  Maybe, Mik will let me have one out all year round, though.

When is it worth it to fight for accessibility?

Over the years Mik has had to deal with a variety of issues being able to get access to things.  For the most part we have worked to get him access to things such as having the city put in a cut out at the end of our block in Tucson so he could go to high school by himself.  However, there also have come times when it just was not worth it such as eventually giving up on getting reasonable accommodations at school and him finishing his last year of high school through the district's home bound program.

This past weekend I think we came across one of the toughest decisions on whether it is worth fighting for accessibility or not.  For one, it is probably one of the most reasonable requests we have ever wanted.  Not to mention I am pretty sure the law is extremely clear on it being on our side for something to be down about it.  However, the fact we even have to fight for it from the very beginning made me make the tough decision that it was not worth it.

So what did we ask for? A push button be installed on the common access door to a condo building in Alexandria, Virginia.

This past weekend we went to D.C. on our first condo hunting trip.  Sure, I never expected it to be our only one.  However, after going through about a dozen units in 6 buildings we not only found the neighborhood we wanted to live in, but a unit that really felt right.  It was particularly surprising because one of my big non-negotiables was a balcony and it didn't have one, but it had a very open living room and plenty of windows for sun so gardening was still something we could work out.  It was also the best for Mik to maneuver around throughout and it had was a two bedroom plus a den.

The only thing that concerned us was it was also the only building we looked at that didn't have a manned desk and/or doorman and it also lacked an automatic door, so Mik would not be able to independently get in and out of the building.  Thus, we made an offer on the unit with it being contingent on the condo building addressing the access issue by installing a push button.  In less than 24 hours we got a response that the condo was unwilling to install one.

Perhaps we could have worded it better in that there are other options like a remote or fob activated thing, but mainly Mik requires an automated door for long term independence, which is the whole point of moving to the D.C. area.  Putting up a fight is something I am quite sure we would win as it is clearly discrimination that is not allowed under the Fair Housing Act.  However, after our experience with the HOA here in Huntsville, I do not want to start messing with the association before even living there when they clearly did not even care to research the possibility of making a reasonable accommodation before saying they cannot do it (there is slight financial hardship reasoning to get out of such things, but even then I am pretty sure it is actually something that can require a special assessment that they could have at least taken some time to consider ).

Apparently, that was not the right condo for us.  There was another building we had been considering between when deciding to make an offer, but none of the current units totally felt right (we wanted like parts of each being one).  However, it is part of a complex with automated doors for entry to the building and one part also has a manned desk, so maybe a unit we really like will come up there.  By the way, I think only one other building we looked at did not have an automated door and we asked the front desk about it. They said they always have someone at the desk that could help and they even have an actual doorman in the evenings.  We did like that building, but the location just was not really right.

Mik's North Pole Village 2013 Version

Today I managed to put out all of Mik's North Pole Village on the counter in the dining room.  I originally thought we would have to put some on the upper cupboard or over on the piano, but I managed to get them all to barely smoosh in on the counter. Of course, that doesn't take into account that Mik hasn't picked out his building this year.

This morning he found a Coke one he wanted on Amazon with a warning it wouldn't arrive before Christmas. Now that it won't fit with this year's set up, it seems worth getting and just incorporating it next year.  We did add a little Cars accessory that Dad and I bought him when we were at Disney World earlier this year, so at least there is something new this year.

Mik has now added having an area that can be used to display his village to the requirements for our dream house on the lake that we are saving up for.  This is especially important as his village keeps growing and he also said next year he is going to save money to buy himself a building and thus get two next year with one being the one from Mom & Dad (I always get him an accessory).

Mik "Folds" His Laundry

This morning Dad moved a pile of Mik's laundry from the living room to Mik's bed and told me to fold it.  I in turn told Mik to fold it and if he need instruction to ask.  This evening Mik asked me to watch Bones in his room and the clothes were still on the bed. He said we could watch in the living room instead, but I don't really like the couch. I said I'd sit in his recliner chair and he said he'd lay on his bed and just move the clothes to the side.  Instead, though he proceeded to say he was folding his clothes and putting then away.  What he really meant was he was just putting then away in the drawer and skipping the folding, which is fine with me as he did at least match up the socks and I pretty much do the same thing with my tshirts.

The Killer Carpet

Friday Mik texted me this photo of his knee sticking out of his favorite pajamas pants.  His only comment was that next time we are at Disney he needs to looking for new pants.  Ever since we moved into the house the transition areas of the carpets have been annoying, as the carpet they were putting in the day we put an offer on the house is crap.  Mik has ended up with several cuts from crawling over the area between his bathroom and room and now he got a big hole in his Grumpy pajama pants.

What is Mik planning wtih survival books?

Today Mik texted me several links of books to order for him on Amazon.  They all ended up being outdoor survival and edible plant books.  No idea what he is preparing for, but I guess he will soon be ready to survive in the outdoors.

Mom, Mik, a Mustang, and a Shoe

This afternoon Mom came home driving a rental Mustang.  I happened to be outside running my scooter to keep it from being ruined sitting totally unused so long and I was confused at a random car parking in front of our mailbox.  Mom's first words were "I didn't buy it!"  I did not think she did, but I did kind of think she may have lost or left her Prius keys somewhere and had to get a rental.  Turns out, though, she flew into Nashville because it is so much cheaper than Huntsville (actually right after we moved here I saw on the news it is the most expensive airport to fly in/out of).

She is headed back out of town tomorrow, so there was no point in getting her car from the airport.  Also, she thought Mik might find it fun to go for a ride in a Mustang, which is one of the types of cars he likes to check out whenever he sees them.  So, I disassembled his manual chair and managed to get it to fit with enough room for me to still sit the back and Mik in the passenger seat.  I had figured that out before bringing Mik out, though, so he had to drive his powerchair out to load into the car.

Instead of just putting him from his powerchair into the car, Mom decided to just hold him sitting on the hood while I drove the powerchair inside the house, which I am proud to say I managed to do without driving off the sidewalk even once (see previous post about last attempt)!  Mik and Mom were not so successful at what would have seemed the easier task of just waiting, as I came back out to the two of them laughing as Mik was sliding off the hood and the two of them almost falling on the ground.  I grabbed Mik and held him up while Mom got a better grip and I could get into the back seat before putting Mik in the car, but nicely even if I was not there the guy from across the street had seen what was going on and came over to help if needed.

In the whole fiasco I had seen that Mik lost his shoe and assumed that Mom had, too and had picked up the shoe.  However, we get to the restaurant and I pick up the other shoe that had fallen off in the car thinking it was the one he lost outside the car, but then realized Mom had not picked up his shoe.  Not surprisingly, it was still were we left it went we got home from dinner and a movie five hours later.

Mik Stuck in the Bushes

I forgot I had taken this picture of Mik getting stuck in the bushes when he was bringing in his powerchair from getting repaired (the controls did not work when it arrived on the moving truck back in February) the one weekday Mom was home earlier this month.  Clearly, we need to widen the sidewalk, which we kind of suspected, as we had even widen the turning area of the decently wide ramp up to the old house when he got his powerchair.

It did seem like it would be a tight, but doable thing if he took it slow.  Not so much, as he quickly ended up in the bush and he could not get out because it was the control stick part stuck in the bush.  I helped him onto the porch, but not without going off the sidewalk into the bushes on one side and the grass on the other several times, since it really is hard to line it back up on the sidewalk it just fits on once your offtrack.

The real funny thing is that one of the things he said when we were house hunting in Alabama was that he wanted to have bushes in the yard including maybe planting them.  Now I think he is good with what we have and perhaps less near the sidewalk.

Mik's First Tornado Siren Experience

Last night I happened to catch the news and they were talking about possible tornados with storms today.  Earlier this month Mom and Dad were out of town and heard about bad weather in our region and wondered whether Mik and I knew what to do in a tornado.  I did, as I remember a few times hearing the sirens during the summers I spent in Illinois as a kid.  Mik didn't and when I asked him last night he still did not know, so I told him where to go if he heard the sirens.

This afternoon I heard a siren like noise, but at first I thought it was the laundry I had just started (my desk is right next to the laundry room).  I opened my door, though, and realized it was in fact the tornado siren, which I kind of was expecting since I happened to have the local channel on and they interrupted regular programming with storm watch coverage as the storm.  I went to see if Mik heard it (also, our safe spot is also right inside his room), but it could not be heard in his room at all at first (could slightly hear it when he turned his game system off).  Apparently, my room is not as sound proof, which makes sense considering it is the garage area.

When he saw that the tornado watch was in effect until 7 p.m. (it was only 4 p.m.), he said he really missed Tucson now because there are like no natural disasters there.  It only lasted about 30 minutes, though.  In that time, though, he decided we should have an emergency supply kit in the linen closet in his room, since that is in the alcove that makes one of the safest areas in the house.  I have a lot of that kind of stuff in my room and we sure keep stocked on food considering Mom and Dad seem to keep being going for weeks at a time, but the only thing in that closet is a big bag of dog food (and we did not even think of letting Billy in the room...poor Billy) and his glow stick flashlight that I only hung on the closet door this morning.

Forgot to give Mik a tour of house

Tonight Mik tried to have me go wake up Mom with the excuse that he did not know where Mom & Dad's room was.  I thought he was bluffing, but turns out he legitimately did not know where their room was.  I guess we forgot to give him a tour of the whole house after we moved in.

Seriously, the house is smaller than our old one, but the layout is with separate wings, so you really can just use the common areas and not encounter each other's rooms for the most part, especially since Mik has his own bathroom rather than sharing like the rest of us do.

At least Mik did vaguely remember my room was through the kitchen and he really did try to bluff knowing that he could get to my room right out the front door.  He definitely knew that, as the other day when he came home with Dad they knocked there to ask me something.

Mik Grapples with Concept of Daylight Savings Time

Having lived all his life in Arizona until this year, Mik was kind of mind blown when we talked about losing an hour overnight for daylight savings time. He knew about Daylight Savings Time and basically understood how it worked, but having only 23 hours in the day when the clocks spring forward had him staring trying to grasp the reality. In particular, because we were talking about driving home from Disney World today and gaining an hour when we got back in our home time zone, but would then lose the hour with Daylight Savings Time tomorrow. Bottom line was he could not figure out the purpose of Daylight Savings Time and likes it the way it was in Arizona, which we all agreed with.

Changing Lightbulb in Mik's Room

Of course, one week from move date and the light bulb in Mik's room finally went out. Mik is now sure wishing the move date didn't get moved back a week, as he had to put up with Dad coming in after waiting two nights of no real light in his room and putting the ladder right over him to change the bulb. He asked Mik to move, but only gave him five seconds, which wasn't even enough time for him to stop leaning against the bed. Quite uncomfortable fifteen minutes of waiting for Dad to then go search out a fresh lightbulb, but at least it is changed.

Continuing Our Melting Pot Tradition

When I "graduated" from high school in 2004 we went to The Melting Pot.  Then in 2007 we celebrated my Bachelor degree graduation at The Melting Pot.  Mik graduated from high school in December and last night we finally got around to going to The Melting Pot to celebrate (it took so long to get around to it because of Mom and Dad going to Chicago for Christmas and then having  several days of parties and get togethers this past week with their getting remarried on January 1st and having a bunch of family and friends in town).


Unlike most times we have done the Melting Pot, this time we stuck to just the cheese and chocolate.  It was also the first time we had gone as just the four of us and it was kind of odd to only have one pot at the table.  Thus, we had two cheese courses to be able to try to different cheeses.  Then for dessert we had the Cookies and Cream Marshmallow Dream.

Our First and Last Christmas at Mom & Dad's in Tucson

Last night we opened our Christmas presents at Mom and Dad's house. With us moving to Alabama in January, it will likely be the one and only time we do Christmas at that house. In fact, I think it was the first and probably only time Mik went to that house when it was where they were living.

Opening presents before Christmas has been pretty traditional for us and continued this year with Mom and Dad going to Chicago for Christmas and Mik and I deciding to stay home to celebrate Christmas in Tucson for what may be the last time for awhile.

Mom and Dad ended up copying what Mik and I did a few years ago and got each other the same exact present. A few years ago Mik and I got each other the same Harry Potter movie on Blu-Ray and this year Mom and Dad got each other a 2013 runners calendar (they are both going to do the Chicago marathon next year).

Here is Mik getting nothing! He opened the card and thought he got nothing. He was expecting an iTunes card, which is all he asked for this year, and didn't read the tag inside that said good for an iTunes card from Mom. More importantly, though, the other tag in the card said good for tickets to the Lakers @ Suns game, so he will get to go to the game he has been wanting to see right before we move.

What it took for Mik to decide to move

For over a month now Mik has refused to decide about moving to Huntsville until he at least saw the city.  After our house hunting trip this weekend was almost over and we even decided on a house, he still refused to commit to moving and actually was thinking of how he could get an apartment and stay by himself in Tucson.  Last night he said he would not talk about his decision again until Monday.


This morning, though, he finally decided he will move.  He still is not that interested in the city and the idea of moving, although he does like the house we are trying to get.  What made him commit was that Mom and Dad came back from checking out the Kroger with Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream.  This is a flavor he looks for every year and we had not found any in Tucson this year despite looking at many different grocery stores.

Mik Keeps Talking About His New Fridge

Last month I finally got around to defrosting Mik's mini fridge in his room.  I noticed the seal was starting to wear out, but it seemed to still close if you made sure to push it all the way close.  However, just a few days later it was all frosted up again despite Mik being more aware and closing it every time.  Thus, we decided it was time for a new mini fridge.  We bought it a couple weeks ago, but Mik's room has been its usual disaster and it is supposed to be someone else's job to clean it up.  Dad finally found time to be able to put it in this Saturday and now Mik cannot stop talking about how awesome his new fridge is.


It is similar to his old one, but it is a bigger version.  He likes that it is silver, as it goes better with his room.  He also likes that he has more space in his room, since as part of putting in a new fridge we decided to clean out the closet to be only long term storage (i.e. stuff he only needs to take out once a year or less, mainly his Christmas village and empty video game cases) and put the fridge in the closet doorway.  He is still getting used to the door opening from the right instead of the left, but he totally loves everything about it and seems to have something to say about it every time I go in his room.

Entering an Indoor Speed Zone Sign

Today I added a Entering Indoor Speed Only Zone sign to the front door.  I was prompted to do so due to a Mik Tornado incident on Wednesday.  When I came home from bowling, I found the Great Room pretty much entirely rearranged and Mik left his power chair in full speed outdoor mode.

Apparently, Mik just wanted the remotes for the television.  They were not where they normally are, but they were still easy for him to grab from the desk in the office.  He did eventually locate them, but not after running into a lot of stuff and moving it around the room.

He moved the couch from the center of the room to almost against the wall, which included moving his walker that was behind the couch.  He moved the glass table to be crooked.  He moved a chair away from that table.  He moved the desk in the office to be crooked.  He moved the rug.  Lastly, he somehow moved the beanbag footstool all the way across the room.

Amazingly after 8 months of having the chair he has never done anything other than slightly move the couch and desk and make a little hole in his bathroom door.  Then in one hour of coming home from school last Wednesday he did like three times all that put together.  Interestingly, though, he did pick up one of his pairs of shoes and put them on a chair while he was "arranging" the great room.

The occasional moving things around with his power chair does not bother me, but he was totally out of control driving in what we call speedy speedy mode when I have told him several times to use indoor speed in the house.  The furniture is all way more than adequately out of the way for him to have navigated around and got what he needed/wanted without having to move any of it, although I can understand him bumping into the desk and moving it a few inches.  The problem was he moved things feet, which meant he did not just stop when he bumped it and/or he was zooming around like crazy.  Now I have a firm Indoor Speed Only Zone sign and he better not go crazy in outdoor mode again.