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  • Flour(s) for Me

    All I could hear was running water and the pitter patter of feet running back and forth.  I couldn’t imagine what was going on downstairs.  I just knew it was not good.  Here’s what happens when you cover your eyes with a baby blanket to block out light due to a pounding headache and end up falling asleep.

    Your son will decide he needs to take down the flour and spray it all over the kitchen floor.  Then he will realize the error of his ways and start cleaning up before his mother wakes up and makes it down the stairs.  So, what does he do?  He starts wiping with a wet rag–a soaking wet one. 

    I’ll readily admit that I did not keep my cool.  I still feel awful about it.  As I was cleaning, I realized it was not the end of the world and it cleans up with a bit of elbow grease.

    I need to keep this post by my friend in mind always to keep me responses in check. 

    Also, how blog addicted am I becoming when I lament the fact that I was so upset I cleaned it all up before taking a picture for this post?

  • Mother’s Day Giveaway

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    An iPod Nano is what they’re giving away.  And, it comes wrapped in a beautiful box with chocolate.  Go and enter!!

    ETA:  I’ve placed the button on my left sidebar.  It takes you to the website.  There are more contests than this one!

  • Virtues and Manners

    There are times when I feel that my children should be getting enough virtues and manners instructions from me by osmosis.  However, I know that it’s not true.  I need to make a conscious effort to teach them. 

    My next dilemma, now that I had determined I need to make the concerted effort, is how do I start?  Well, one thing I have pondered is whether there’s a difference between virtues and manners.  Well, yes, there is.  My IRL friend ruminates on the fact that we need to model virtues–those defined by the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

    1803 A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good.

    Then it further breaks it down this way:

    • Human (or moral) Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance)
    • Theological Virtues (Faith, Hope and Charity)

    So, in essence, I really need to model these virtues and can even discuss it.  Read her post, it’s wonderful.

    Then, there’s my internet friend who is working on teaching manners to her children.  I’ve been working on the basics, but I realize that I have not taught my children as well as I should. 

    So, that’s another thing we will do on a daily basis.  I’ve ordered a couple of books and I’ll start working on manners.  As for the virtues, I really have to start practicing them myself before I can work on the little ones.

    Tune in later to find out how we fare.

    Oh, and check out Cheryl’s blog–she’s a genius at organizing.  And, my IRL friend recently had a wonderful post titled Works of Mercy Are a Mother’s Works.

  • Loveliness of Gardens

    Jennifer at As Cozy As Spring is hosting the Loveliness of Gardens.  She’s a perfect hostess for this fair.  She has the most wonderful plants in her garden!

    I had planned this post about my little patch of dirt we’ve put together.  We have to have a raised bed because the soil is very rocky and it’s just too hard to dig it’s easier.  But, we’ve all been sick.  Usually, when I’m sick I’m just feeling under the weather, but this time around, this cold hit hard.  So, we went to my parents house to recuperate this weekend.  While there, I took pictures of my mother’s wonderful flowers.  She has taken to gardening and it has become her passion (she’s also using gardening to fill the time she had spent with my youngest brother who moved out 3 weeks ago when he found a good job in Dallas). 

    I don’t know the names of many of her flowers and her garden puts mine to shame.  I take after my mother and have a pretty green thumb.  If I would only take the time and effort I know my gardens can be spectacular.  I only need to change my mindset–this is my permanent home (God willing) and I need to make it so.

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    Hydrangeas.  I love these flowers.

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    My mother calls these, in Korean, Saucer Flower.  Of course, that helps me not a bit in finding out the real name.

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    The geranium was my maternal grandmother’s favorite flower.  My mother and sister have an abundance of geraniums around their homes.  I plan on doing the same.

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    It has come as a surprise as I write this to realize that taking pictures of this garden gave my mother and me a precious memory.  She was so happy to show me her garden.  It’s a garden of love–the love she gave us as she tended to us, and raised us in this world that is still so foreign to her.  What a lovely gift I received today. 

    Here’s a final look at one of her flower beds.

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  • Separated

    My parents attended a funeral today for an old friend’s mother.  I learned a little something about this mother.  During the times before the Korean War but after World War II when the Russians had control of the North and the Americans control of the South, there was a lot of tension.  People snuck in and out constantly.  Also, there were many instances of people being kidnapped and taken North.  I don’t know if that happened the other way.  This lady lost her husband to one of these kidnappings.

    For over 50 years she has never learned what has happened to her husband.  She was left with two children.  One was ten and I don’t know the age of the other.  I can’t even imagine that.  She never remarried.  May she rest in peace.

  • My Bag

    Dawn talks about her bag on her blog.  Hers is very neat while mine, as you will see, is not.  At least this gives me the opportunity to clean it out.

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    My bag was made by a friend who used my husband’s old BDU top and some Amy Butler material for the sides and insides.

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    Here is my mini purse that I use to house my wallet.  When it’s just me running out of the house, I can just grab the mini purse and go.  Also, you’ll see my calculator, a sudoku book (I love these puzzles, but I’ve only managed to finish about 3 of them so far), a ball of yarn for Pumpkin, a pencil bag full of multicolored pens, and a couple of notebooks.

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    Here are my clipboards (when little girls get tired of their toys in the therapy waiting room), another ball of yarn, our epi-pens, diapers and wipes, scissors, and mints from Olive Garden.

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    Toys, seeds, stations of the cross chaplet, appointment card, rosary, Divine Mercy card, and rubber bands for a geoboard.

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    Trash and receipts. 

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    Crumbs!!  How’d that get in there?  I try not to carry food around in this bag.  I have a separate snack bag that I carry to therapy and other places.

    And, finally, my husband would not be happy that I didn’t show the back side of the bag where I have patches from all the units he’s been assigned to.

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    Oh, one more thing.  The handles have this saying stitched on them:  "I had cast my lot with a soldier and where he was, was home to me."–Martha Summerhayes, an Army wife from the late 1800s.

  • Prayers for Heather

    I’m coming in late so I wasn’t sure I should do this, but I know Heather will continue to need these prayers.

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    Please continue to pray for this mother of three little ones who has a brain tumor.  She had surgery yesterday.  Here’s an update from her husband. 

    Thank you, Alice for keeping us informed.

  • Tossing and Turning

    That’s what I’ve been doing since I went to bed.  Tossing and turning, just on the edge of sleep.  Then, finally, I heard it.  This is why I couldn’t sleep, I guess.  The coughing that sounds like, you got it, throwing up. 

    Luckily, Brother threw up mostly on the car rug near his bed.  Unfortunately, there was such copious amount, I still had to scrub the carpet.  Anyone know how I can get chocolate colored vomit off the carpet?

    I was reminded of this post.  Timing is everything.  God-incidence. 

  • Neurology Appointment

    My oldest, Brother, had been seeing a developmental pediatrician regarding his autism.  At first, I had thought he was a good doctor, but I’m ambivalent about my opinion of him.  He is too busy.  He never returns phone calls and after the initial diagnosis, we didn’t see him again until last year–two years later.  So, I decided I needed someone else.  Based on a recommendation from a fellow mom from the therapy clinic waiting room, I changed doctors.

    The appointment went well.  The military healthcare system is lacking in creature comforts.  It needs to be because it’s taxpayer money and so we don’t need frills like the nurse checking you in minutes after you arrive.  So, it was such a surprise to be in this place.  We arrived 10 minutes before our appointment.  I had barely sat down and opened my book when we were called back.  I was amazed.  Then, in the examining room, the nurse practitioner came in in less than 5 minutes.  The place was a well oiled machine.  After the initial contact with the nurse pracitioner, the doctor came in and verified that my son did indeed have autism and if he had to specify, it’s high functioning (this was important to me only because I’d been told 3 different diagnoses by the developmental ped).  I had wanted to know about whether we were headed in the right direction about his treatment.  Apparently, he’s receiving more therapy than most children his age.  I didn’t know whether to be happy for Brother or appalled that others were not receiving that level of care.

    From this appointment, I was able to figure out many things:

    1. This appointment did not leave me satisfied.
    2. I want a care manager who knows the field of autism who can tell me at various stages in my son’s life what sort of therapies will work for him beyond just generalized OT and speech.  I want this care manager to help me get these services and help me maneuver around the insurance and other laws.  Right now, that care manager is me and while I’ve learned a lot about autism, I’m not an expert.  If I were an expert, I wouldn’t need therapists.
    3. There needs to be more social groups for these children–especially the high functioning ones and the Asperger’s children.  These social groups are highly structured to help children learn how to relate in a social setting.  The doctor told me that even unstructured social activities are good for my son.  Maybe so, but he still doesn’t know how to interact with other children well.  His sisters know how to interact with him to get a response, but he’s really delayed socially.  If he could pick up social cues and knew how to interact, we wouldn’t have a problem.  Our therapists have been running a social group about once a month since February on their own time.  I can’t ask them to increase the amount of times they meed because it’s on their own time.  They all have families and I don’t want to take their time away from them.
    4. I’m still woefully lacking in my knowledge of autism.  I need to read more but my time is finite.  And, it’s difficult reading.

    So, any ideas?  Where should I look next.  Am I expecting too much from the experts?  If anyone has any good books to recommend, I’d appreciate it.  I need to get my sidebars updated with all my autism resources–I have a bunch. 

  • Happy Birthday to Me!!

    It’s my birthday today.  I’m busy with a neurology appointment in Austin for my son.  My husband is gone on TDY.  Luckily, my mom will probably make me a good dinner in celebration.  We had a family party the day I was confirmed so there won’t be any cake.  That’s okay, I’m trying to stay trim for my trip to Hawaii.

    I won’t tell you my age, but say that I keep trying to convince my children that I’m 29 and will stay that way forever. 

    My ever brutally honest son said that I was not young.  My age was too big a number.  That rascal.