A Day in the Life of Me

Yesterday, Saturday, was a very busy day.  We got up extra early to get ready to leave for Merit Badge Pow Wow in Santa Maria.  The Pow Wow is a yearly event that I have been helping out for the last umpteen years. It's so many I lost count! Several Boy Scout troops in the district get together and spend a morning working on many different merit badges.  I teach the Disability Merit Badge.  I enjoy this very much.  It is great to be in a really nice group of young men.  It gives me hope for the future!  For this merit badge they have to learn about advocacy, etiquette, accessibility, adaptations, occupations etc.  The fun part is going around the building and checking out the accessibility.  Most boys think it looks pretty accessible until they actually look around.
I also show a short video titled, I'm Tyler.  This video was put together as an Eagle project and is very inspiring. If you are interested click here to watch it. 

This was the first time Mike also taught a class.  Nuclear Science was his subject.  Perfect for him!  His boys got to make models of of electrons and neutrons with marshmallows.  As Mike said, "something they could sink their teeth into".  I am sure the teachers in the class after him didn't appreciate the sugar highs.  

After the Pow Wow, it was time to head out to Buellton for lunch with a group of friends.  We had about an hour extra to spare so we took a little country drive.  We stopped in little Los Olivos to walk around a bit.  We have driven by so many times and  it looked charming.  So why not?  Well it was mostly wine tasting.  The buildings were cool but the wine tasting wasn't our thing.

On to Buellton and Gino's Pizza.  We were meeting some old friends.  All members of our spina bifida support group from when Evan was young.  It was great to get together.  But, sad to think about those who have passed on.  Evan was the youngest of the group and the most involved, at least cognitively wise.  It was an eye opener to me how all these young adults are still living at home and struggling still with medical problems and fitting into society with jobs and friends.  They just seem to fall into the cracks.  Due to Evan's cognitive status he qualifies for some of the California state programs for adults with developmental disabilities that the others don't. Makes me sad to see those with such potential not get the support they need.  It was great to be with other parents and chat about things that only parents of children with spina bifida can understand.  By the way, the salad we ordered was huge and very very yummy!!

As we headed home on the 101 we came to a complete stop. Not a good sign!!  Flashing lights were ahead and an ambulance coming from behind.  Then we see a helicopter that lands right on the freeway!!  God speed to those that are injured.  As we sat there I wasn't  upset that we were moving, just grateful we were safe.  We talked as we waited and played Mad Libs.  When we were finally able to move, wow, what a banged up van.  Looks like it rolled several times.  I hope the people had on their seat belts. 

When we got home I finished up an online project I was working on.  I am now an official California ServSafe Food Handler.  I think this means I can now flip burgers at Burger King.  No worries,  things aren't that bad, I'm not headed off to work in a restaurant.  This was just for crazy government regulations, so the food pantry that I volunteer for, The Five Cities Christian Women Food pantry, could get licensed.  We distribute food to the needy and now we need to be licensed. Something new for this 30 plus year old organization. Even though we don't cook food, we just give out groceries.  Someone in the group had to become certified, so I agreed to take the online course and test.  The course was a joke, most of it talked about safe temperatures for cooking and serving food, which we don't do. The test was even more of a joke.  The questions were multiple choice and one question about the proper way to wash hands asked if you would use boiling water!!  Boiling water!!!!  You would have to be an imbecile to make that choice.  Crazy!  Anyway, I passed the test and now I'm official!  So, that will help this wonderful group!

I fixed dinner. Yeah for leftovers!!  After cleaning things up we enjoyed a quiet evening.  Evan stomped his parents in a game of Farkle and then I headed off to bed early to read a book.  Before I fell asleep April called, needing some motherly advice.  It was fun to chat with her for a while, she e-mailed me some cute pictures of her sweet boys, Tommy and Corbin!  Poor Tommy has a swollen lower eye lid.  Hopefully, it is just a bug bite or something and will be better in the morning.

So, there you have it!!  A day in the life of me!! I actually love my life!!