Why I am Going to Buy a Douche!

The dog got sprayed by a skunk.

Apparently tomato juice just covers up the smell, and doesn't get rid of the actual skunk oil (I tried it anyway, though, out of desperation at 2:00am). A dish detergent, baking soda, and vinegar mixture seemed to get more of the oil off, and helped quite a bit. But that smell, oh that smell. I can't get it entirely gone, off my hands, off the dog, out of the house.

So I heard Managisil (spelling?) douches work to de-skunk fur and skin. And now I am going to suck up my pride and go buy a dozen at the pharmacy.

I'll probably cut down a whole big bush in my yard too. It was part of the scene of the crime and absolutely reeks. I can't see saving it with douches, though I might try filling a weed sprayer nozzle with a douche mix.

This is nothing like the smell you get when you drive by somewhere a skunk has sprayed. Up close and personal, it has a totally different smell. It smells like some odd mixture of chemicals and burning tires. I don't even know how to describe it. I knew she got sprayed right away. I didn't let her in the house, and went straight to bathing her with tomato juice and then dish soap and then finally the vinegar, baking soda combo. Poor dog has not been allowed to go anywhere but the kitchen and then the basement since late last night. I just don't know how to even deal with the smell. It makes me want to climb the walls.

Something told me I shouldn't have let the dog out when she wanted around midnight last night (even though she was just acting like she had to go potty), and I should have listened to that inner voice of wisdom.

I Heart Pool Care

me, playing in a pool as a kid

Caring for my pool right now takes at least an hour every day (lately much more because [a] it has been raining every afternoon and [b] we're fighting a very mild-- knock on wood-- attack of algae). I hear once your pool is under control and you have the routine down, it can take as little as an hour per week. I do look forward to that because carving out an hour from my day without neglecting the precious time I have with my children is hard.

That said, I love my pool and I love doing pool care. I always hated yard work, and was never any good at it. Everything I wanted to grow died. Everything I didn't want to grow was impossible to get rid of. I found the heat unbearable in the summer, even in mild western Washington state, and a lot of sensory aversions were triggered by the work (as with other types of domestic work). I never felt strong or capable. G. liked it somewhat, but never had enough time for it, nor a natural knack really.

Now that we have far more pool than yard, I have a way to really contribute to our domestic life without wanting to leave my skin every minute of it.

Here are the top 10 things I love about caring for my pool:

10. It involves my brain. It involves chemicals. It involves science.

9. It makes me feel like I am outsmarting someone when I discover, for example, that the "shock" compound they sell at the pool supply store for $30 dollars for a few weeks worth of supply is really just 5.25% household bleach that I can get at the store for about $1.62 per week.

8. It is something physical...hard laborious work that I have to do in slow motion. You can't rush through it or it won't be effective. (Moving slowly seems to be my body's ambition in life, but I do like the feeling of being physical in any case.)

7. If I get too hot, I can dip my feet or dunk my head, as long as I am not applying chemicals (which is better done in the evening, when it is cooler, anyway).

6. It's impressive. People who look in the corner with all the pool equipment are overwhelmed by it just like I was at first. Even G. is still a little overwhelmed by it. But so far I am managing pretty well (knock on wood), which boosts my self-esteem.

5. I usually reward myself with a good swim after cleaning the pool. I LOVE swimming.

4. Even if I don't get to swim afterward, usually my family does, and it brings me soooooo much joy to be able to give this gift to them.

3. I really like the hum of the pool pump. It is soothing to me.

2. I don't have to get my hands dirty or touch too much stuff that trigger sensory aversions.

1. I can do it only semi-clothed, which is especially wonderful on hot and humid days when I can barely stand to get dressed to go to work, let alone to do physical labor.

The Stimming House

This picture might also be worth 1000 words:

So we have been in our new house for a little less than a week, and we are still mostly packed up in boxes. I think this is going to go much more slowly than I had been hoping. I just want to be in and settled.

But what is that behind those boxes that are sitting on our 3-season porch? Why...a pool! You just can't see it because I took this picture at night.

For our first couple days here, I didn't have much opportunity to get in the pool. G. and the kids were able to make it in once or twice, but I just couldn't seem to get the timing down. Finally, during the last three days, I've been able to fit in some time in the water each day.

K. has always really loved the water, and M. has been a bit more cautious. We have been on hiatus for a while now from our parent-child swim classes, in part because M. hated the coolness of the water. It is really nice now to have some control over the temperature.

What is interesting is that K. now seems a bit more insecure when we get into the water (it could just be the insecurity of moving coming into play), and also she is not tolerating the temp of the water quite as well. She wants to be in the pool with us, but seems very tentative once in. I am hoping once things settle, she too will settle into the house and life with a pool so she can enjoy herself in the water again.

M. on the other hand, in just these few days, has begun to relax tremendously and enjoy water again. He napped later than usual today, so G. took K. up to bed tonight at the usual time but M. stayed downstairs with me for a little extra time.

I asked M. if he wanted to go dip his feet in the pool, and he said that he did. We went out, and were dipping our feet, and not more than five minutes later, M. decided to go ahead and basically step down into the pool...in his clothes and all. He played very contentedly even as it began to rain. I let him stay in the pool because there were no signs of lightning, but I made him come inside the house once the rain started to come down more heavily.

This child who once seemed to have a mild sensory aversion to pools is now the last to get out of the pool. A transformation largely in this single week of daily swims. We are so lucky to have a pool in our backyard for no-pressure family swims. It beats parent-child weekly lessons hands-down. M. has been able to come into comfort with the water in his own way and in his own time this week. He even is comfortable enough now to let me just lightly support him with a couple of fingers while he tries some basic swimming moves (leg kicks, and basic arm paddling, which is still very rudimentary).

The pool is a great place for "stimming" activities: for rocking, for slow spinning, for kicking and splashing, for bouncing/jumping, for making patterns with the water. We all do these things naturally in bodies of water, especially children. But M. and I both love that it is a built in feature of this house.

We also set up the computer yesterday, and I was playing some music off my mom's blog. M and I were tilting our heads back, looking at the ceiling, and swaying from side to side as we listened to it (along with bouncing and dancing too). The ceiling in the sunroom is a drop ceiling...a nice one, though, as drop ceilings go. The squares are soothing to look at when swaying. Very stimmy, and very soothing, and very bonding.

M's been enjoying some floor space in the living room to work on his new 24-piece puzzle (the pieces are quite large, and the puzzle is something like 2.5 x 3 feet when completed). He can do that puzzle again and again and again with complete focus as long as K. is busy doing something else. Yesterday, he lined up all his matchbox cars across the sunroom and then pronounced proudly to me, "Did it, mama!" Yes, baby, you did!

Even though our lives are still very much in upheaval here, our new home feels so right and good. And very stimmy-friendly. Hooray!

Quick House Update

Looks like closing will be delayed. I paid insurance for one year in full this morning, but the closing attorney said the lender demands 24 hours after they receive the insurance binder to prepare the loan documents. Urgh. I soooo wish this would have been simpler last week.

This will make closing tomorrow, except the seller's attorney is saying he isn't available tomorrow. This is frustrating, but at least now we seem to have insurance...so it is just a matter of another day to three until we can get in our house.

Sprint to Closing

It may be another week or two before I post anything good. I hope that won't prevent any of my six readers ;-) from coming back.

We are in the homestretch, the sprint to closing on our new house. Closing will happen Monday, and then we will take slightly less than two weeks for our move. It still feels uncertain. I am not sure whether that is because we are in a different state and the process is so unfamiliar, or if it is because of how the mortgage industry is right now, or because of all the trouble this purchase has been so far (a CONSTANT negotiation) or what. But I will believe it when those keys are in my hand.

If you looked around our house, you'd have NO idea we are moving.

Nonetheless, we're hammering in the final nails. Our attorney is working out some detail on the mortgage commitment letter with our lender. We have a tentative final walk-through time scheduled with our real estate agent. Our landlord has been showing our rental house like crazy, and we've been trying to stay out of her way. I am working on our homeowner's insurance application.

Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Edited to add:

How bad is old knob and tube wiring in an electrical system? Apparently, VERY bad. A few hours after posting the above, it began to complicate our lives a great deal-- particularly in getting home owner's insurance-- even though this wiring is a relatively small amount of the wiring in the house. Will this slow or stop our sprint to closing? Or cost of a couple thousand dollars we don't have? Maybe. Please continue to keep your fingers crossed for us. As it turns out, I was right on in having a sense of caution.