Social Story for Autistic Children: "Standing in Line at School"

Having a moment

You know, a moment. When you really connect. Had one with mom on the phone this very morning. It had been awhile. Wonderful!

And last night with Caitlin - she had me laughing so hard I was crying. The topic was, well, one of the topics - engaging your brain before opening your mouth versus having your brain connected to your mouth (which is more blurting out what ever your thinking.) So, Caitlin's self described thought process - "Hi! You're fat. I like pie. Kittens are cute!" - which is pretty much how I thought but was afraid to ask - her teenage girl brain operates.

So, tonight we celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Nana has the girls. Kevin and I are going - somewhere nice. I'm hoping we'll have a moment!

The Summer of Self Sufficiency!

Here's how simple my summer project is NOT!

example:

"put the breakfast dishes away, brush your teeth, get in the car". (portions of this statement were repeated 5 times this morning.) Drop the kids off, return to find one set of dishes left at the table. Stop yourself from just doing it, because it's the summer of self sufficiency! Next pass through the room - decide to rinse them and put them back because "gross". Call your husband at work to explain why he should not put the dishes away if he should come home while you're out. Stew over the fact that he will probably put the dishes away before you can drive home your point with DD1. Simple! Then watch her do it again at dinner.

Happy Mothers Day

Nana is about to come over, we are first headed to Tagawa to buy each other our mothers day presents. Then we will spend the day gardening and bar-b-queing. Oh, I hope it is as idillic as it sound!

And aside (I wanted to post this story on facebook, but it was too long).

An elder Cherokee Native American was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, "A fight is going on inside me... it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

"The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too."

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied... "The one you feed."

No Insomnia = No blogging

I figured out why I'm not much of a blogger anymore. My insomnia has been pretty much manageable, in check, since the ending of grad school. Sure I still wake up at 3a.m. like thyroid induced clockwork, but nowadays I just go right back to sleep. In fact, my last blog post was done during a windy night when I couldn't get back to sleep.

So, since I'm here, check-in report: all is well. Very busy at the almost 90 day old job, taking tomorrow off for Abigail's braces on the bottom which is an hour long procedure and I felt merited a mama daughter day.

I am headed up to the comfy couch with my blankie and glass of milk to read "Stolen Lives" - the Parkview Bookclub pick; can't get my hands on "Cutting for Stone" the Mother/daughter Bookclub pick; but did next months already on CD in the car (a great way to use travel time!) That was "the Big Burn" - making history interesting. I think I will do "1776" next - on CD. I started that one a year ago with dad in the hospital. Which brings me to the anniversary mopes of dads passing away. Miss you dad.

I was just looking for an interesting recent picture - and dishwashing, dishwasher, washing hands, etc. were my choices. I actually enjoy creating the First / Then visuals - I have my very own laminator for the classroom. The sad part - no time to do it! I've actually had to delegate this, my creative outlet to others. Don't worry though, I still get to color.

Good night - I have to go post Caitlin's joke on Facebook to help bury my political ones. Sometimes I just can't help myself. - What did 0 say to 8?

Nice belt!

stupid wind. . .

The wind is fierce tonight! And for me, once the eyes are open, that leads to "I wonder if the fires are still going - I need to call Doug and Annie - nah, they're probably under 3 feet of snow - still, I should call - I should wake Abi up and make her read for an hour, that's what I SHOULD do - did I bring home the boardmaker CD? - I need to get those made - Should I get up? - don't be ridiculous, it's just a little wind, go back to sleep!... I need to make sure Caitlin brings a snack to school; CSAPs! - I should have... I could have ... there's no way I'm ever getting back to sleep - stupid insomnia - hey, maybe if i get stuff done now, I can go to archivers!" - If you can't beat it, go with it!

I skipped all the dad tangents - the photo is of a largely unfinished Grandpa, tell me your memories guide. I guess I thought we'd really jump in with that in his 90's.

Frugality after, Industry before

Well, lessons learned from frugality are :
I need to keep working on it, and
many times, trying to be frugal costs you more money.

Industry! How perfect that I just got a job! "be always employed doing something useful"
. . . uh - hehehe - right.

So I'll have plenty to keep me focused on industry this week. I'll just try to keep my vegging in front of the t.v. or computer to a minimum. Work out instead, I'll need to let off some tension! Again, a good luck week to do industry.

FRUGALITY

Resolve was ok, however - Frugality! Now there is a challenge. Also, the added levels to Franklin's idea of frugality isn't just to spend less. It's to spend "only to do good and waste nothing."

The book is funny, with excellent examples of how his attempts to save a few cents end up costing him a great deal more and being a headache. It's hard to know what to do, particularly for a second guesser like me. So let me sink my teeth in and report back!

week 3 - Resolve

Resolve - I'm paraphrasing, but Doing whatever it is you set out to do without fail.

Well, this is a problem, isn't it.
This is why I'm here.
Right now, I'm doing fairly well with this because I'm without job and frankly, I have enough time on my hands to keep all my juggling balls in the air. And without fail, I take on too many, burn out, fatigue, ect. and start dropping them! Sometimes I do a good job for a long time, and sometimes I'm all over the place - it's a roller coaster. But doing it without fail? Is that even a realistic expectation?

So, like the rest of the virtues, I guess it's about continuing to try, and at least you will probably going to get alittle closer to the target out of practice. So, I'm resolving to make good use of my remaining time off, and resolving to find a job.

A Picture a day - until when?

My cousin Kate writes " It must be strange not to have Uncle Bruce around - but he leaves a legacy of cheer and music and droll remarks for the holidays. Big hugs to you."

So if I were to be starting a picture a day thing with Ms Martha, that's probably what I would start with! How about A PICTURE A DAY UNTIL I GET A REAL JOB! It'll be fun, like a sit in protest, or other civil disobedience - YEAH! - Who's with me! (crickets)