My 13 year old daughter has a bi-fold door for her bedroom closet and when it recently came off the track she picked it up and carried it to the hallway. This seemed a perfectly acceptable place for it, given that the additional space in her room is covered with piles of clothing. And, nailpolish. And, possibly a bag of chips.

It probably also seemed a perfectly acceptable place because it’s also where my husband and I put our footboard and side-rails after we got our new bed. A year ago. That’s right, we used our upstairs hallway as storage for over 12 months. Don’t judge me!

So there my daughter’s closet door stood, perilously rested against the edge of her doorjamb. Last night before I went to bed I thought, I need to move that door, because if she gets up in the middle of the night she’s going to run right into it. Then I edged past it and crept to her bed where I gently removed the text books piled up next to her as she slept.

Then I turned around and walked right into the closet door.

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Since my son was a baby, someone from the county has come out to work with us on his needs. As an infant, he got in-home occupational and physical therapy. When he got a little older, he attended a preschool for special needs children and when he neared school-age, we got OT and behavioral therapy ala carte while the county paid the bills.

Now that my boy attends a typical school and is functioning with mild delays, we don’t use the county funding much, but once a year his case manager still has to make an appearance at our house to go over his status. She visited us last week.

For the first 30 minutes she asked me questions about my son’s health and hospitalizations. Then she started asking him the questions.

She inquired about his age, what chores he does around the house and the extra-curricular activities in which he’s involved. She asked him if he can still dress himself, if he has a problem turning on the water when he showers and then…she asked him if he’s shaving yet.

This is a valid question.

Despite being 10 years old and only 48 pounds, my son is kind of hairy. You can see the faintest hint of a mustache above his upper lip and I admit to taming his unibrow. I blame our Lebanese genes.

Still,  I think his case manager was taken off-guard when he replied, “No, I don’t shave yet. But, do you want to see my hairy back?”

Unfortunately for us, the county draws the line at paying for wax jobs.

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Yesterday morning, our dog almost got run over.

My husband and my son were walking her when she suddenly darted away and into the path of a school bus which, in my husband’s words, “…was not going to stop.” My son witnessed the entire incident.

When they returned home, he was one shaken-up kid and insisted upon giving me a play-by-play.

And, I know it was an honest account of what happened, because after he went on and on about Daisy’s near-fatal mistake, he ended the story with, “It was so terrible! I was scared 3/4 to death!”

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My husband made a comment about my blog being heavy with sponsored content right now and I agree. I know I don’t have to explain it, but I want to. You will see more ads and more sponsored posts than usual (at least for the time being) for three reasons:

1) Companies are interested in this space because readers show up. When I write a review post, the majority of the time this includes a giveaway for one of you. Gift cards, game systems, Kindles…many goodies are offered because these brands understand that social media is word of mouth, times infinity. Twitter is the old corner store and Facebook is the old front porch. You like something, you share it, they do more business. My reviews don’t just benefit me, they benefit you because brands know that blog readers are a social media savvy group.

2) I don’t review or promote anything that I haven’t tried and believe in. My recent Kings Island and Microsoft Office posts, for example? One-hundred percent authentic. Tonight I’m reviewing wine (and there will be something in it for a reader). I will also tell you the truth about this wine, especially if I drink a bunch of it first. I am nothing if not honest. I just told you people about my colonoscopy for crying out loud.

3) We’re broke. Like, FLAT broke. We have medical bills that are mounting so high it’s starting to look like an episode of “Hoarders” up in here. Hearing aids, sleep apnea, intestinal emergencies, congenital heart disease, and this week we add an orthodontist to the mix because my son’s roots have so little room that they’re actually deteriorating. Yippee! This is why it makes perfect sense that we went out the other day and bought this:

No, this is not sponsored by CarMax. They gave me nothing. I’m just so used to taking sponsored photos that it must be instinct.

Okay, in our defense we had NO intention of buying a new (to us) car. But, at merely five years old and only 43,000 miles, oh…and manufactured by a non-existent car company *hi, Saturn!* they made us an offer we couldn’t refuse. Not to mention that our 15 year old SUV was, quite literally, falling apart around us. No, really. I didn’t feel safe in it and certainly didn’t like my children sitting in a back seat with doors that wouldn’t open. Also, it’s for sale! Call me!

So, there you have it. You may have to scroll through some sponsored content with more frequency for awhile, but I still like to think you’ll show up.

Of course, that could be the free wine talking.

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