Taking the Scenic Route

Well, I feel better than I did feel. I don’t feel 100%. Yesterday our insurance kicked back in (YEAH!!!), so today I took my aching mouth to the dentist expecting a root canal. Nope. Needs to be pulled. The cavity is down to the bone. Probably why it hurt so much. The tooth next to it needs to go too..it was an old root canal that we couldn’t afford to cap and has now deteriorated past the point of repair. At least that one doesn’t hurt. I have been dealing with this tooth in agony for two months and I am SO HAPPY that it will be on the road to feeling better soon.

I also discovered, when the took the x-rays, that my sinuses are so full that they look like bone instead of clear sinus space on the x-rays. Walked over to my doctor, next door, and dropped off a picture of the x-ray and have an appointment for tomorrow, after the extraction. The dentist said that my massive sinus junk is probably aggravating the already horrible cavity even more. No wonder I felt like I was hurting so badly.

Potty training actually went backwards with Zane. He went from being ok with changing diapers, to refusing to let us change him and refusing to change himself (when it is just wet, of course). I had lined up a friend to watch Zora tomorrow and Wed, possibly Thursday so I could sit with him in the bathroom all freakin’ day with no interruption to try and get over the hump, but no dice. I am going to have to cancel tomorrow because of the tooth, and I am wondering if I am going to be able to handle potty training boot camp while I am trying to heal from all of this crap. I don’t know what to do. I want to make it easier for my mom when she watches the kids because she has gotten nailed with so much other stuff of late, but I am not sure that it is even possible.

Went to the travel store today and got luggage straps, locks, some electrical thing, and a fanny pack thing for Zach and a purse for me. The only purse I have opens on it’s own on a regular basis, which is bad enough locally, but a recipe for disaster on an international trip. Zach also went to Eddie Bauer and scored with a pair of Jeans for only $20. Now he has a pair that isn’t shredded at the bottom (his clogs eat his pants…he stopped wearing them with nice pants, but the damage was done)

My sweet little tornado girl.  Doesn’t she look innocent?

Twenty-nine days late, we celebrated our Anniversary.  My mom came up and played with the kids (mostly in the backyard) this afternoon.  We went out to eat, and then did what everyone does when they are celebrating…went to a used bookstore.  lol.  It was so nice to wander around without having to keep little hands from pulling things off of shelves and darting off while you try and browse. 

You would think that since we are away from the kids we would browse the grown-up literature.  nope.  I spent most of the time browsing through the children’s section.  I probably put back 10-15 books that I wanted for every one I purchased.  Most of the books were around $2, with a few at $5.  All but one were hardcover books.  Sweet!

Although I would have loved to browse the fiction, my reading list goes unread at this point anyway, and I need to thumb through some parenting books on my shelf as my kids suddenly hit new phases that I am not entirely sure how to deal with, so it isn’t like I would get to read fiction anytime soon.  Considering I read at least 10 kid’s books a day (on a light day), I have motivation to try and add some variety to that.

Beautiful, but no, NEVER, really…you could not pay me enough.  *shudder*

You know those foot pads that are supposed to rid your body of toxins?  Interesting discussion of it.

For the frugal:  The Grocery Game  I had been hearing about it but never went to the site.  Looks interesting. 

For those interested in vaccine issues, a huge scandal at Merck, one of the main manufacturers:  http://www.fda.gov/foi/warning_letters/s6756c.pdf

A company I really like (and several of my therapists rely on) is being attacked by Mattel:  Small Special Education Company Battles Mattel Over Right to Use the Words “AND SAY” on Its Products

I thought this was interesting…charts that show what people are spending on groceries, updated monthly.

eta:

I am going to add one more rather than starting a new post:  3-Year-Old Has Never Fallen Asleep.  Wow.  Zane never slept more than 3-4 hours in any given 24-48 hour period until he was between 3 and 4, and I thought that was bad.  I can’t even imagine how sleep deprived those parents are.  I really think that the sleep deprivation affected my ability to really understand what was going on in those early years.  I just felt like I was a terrible parent and stopped sharing how bad it was with people.  I know now that lack of ability to sleep is fairly common in autism, but I didn’t know it then and blamed myself.

Church

Zane was totally on his own today (meaning, I dropped him off at the class with his buddy/para, and didn’t return until the end of class) and he did really well.  Zora also enjoyed her Sunday School and came out of the room with evidence of studying Jonah and the Whale. 

With Zane independent at Sunday School, we went to the Worship Service that takes place during the Sunday School time period.  Although the service itself was a little more traditional, I think we have come to the conclusion that nothing is going to make the sermon any better.  He wasn’t as offensive this time around, but it still isn’t really working for me.  I did give him the Biblical Parenting book after the service today and told him I would love to hear his opinion on it and discuss it with him.  I hope he takes me up on it.  If it doesn’t start changing, we are going to see if the timing works out to go to the Children’s church there, and then go to another church for the adult Worship Service, especially now that we know we can get Zane to mostly sit during a service.  (and I know that there is a nursery available for at least two of the three possible churches we might go to for Zora, and I suspect there is one at the third).  We are now closer to the regular Mennonite church, but I will have to check times.  Sort of weird to talk about going to two churches, but hey, unconventional solutions are what makes life interesting.

After Church

We stopped by a restaurant for lunch and everybody got to eat except me.  They brought me my food, but unlike the other times I have ordered it, this time they put chives on the dish and mixed them in.  It was obvious they were added post cooking, so it was doubly annoying.  It was too busy to send back and Zora was losing her cool at the table so we couldn’t wait for a redo, so I just didn’t get to eat.  That sort of stunk.

We had plans of meeting Carrie, Zane’s first ST, at the Zoo.  She and her husband were going to take Zane around the Zoo while we either went there with Zora or went shopping.  We drove up to the zoo to meet them and it was more packed than I thought possible.  There weren’t any parking spaces and the line was all the way out into the parking lot.  It had to be an hour wait just to go through the doors, and more cars were circling the parking lot.  We decided that we should go to Sports World instead.  We assumed Zane would like the go carts and golf, but apparently when he saw the video arcade, he made a bee line.  They had a ball with him.  Zach, Zora and I headed to a kid’s consignment store and browsed for a long time.  I found one dress (she is wearing in the picture), a book, a game for Zane, and a building set for Zora all for under $20.  By the time we returned to Sports World, they were having a drink and ready to head to the counter to redeem the 200+ tickets they had gatherered.  Zane didn’t want to go home.  (big surprise).

An evening with Grandma and Grandpa

Once we got home, we called my folks because they were planning on being in town tonight.  They were just checking out at Sam’s Club and headed over right away.  In the course of the evening Dad fixed our BBQ grill & our living room light (a bulb had exploded and was smoking and we didn’t know how to get it out so we hadn’t used the light for a week), we grilled some burgers, watched a program on tv that was highlighting antique farm implements, and read books and played with the kids.  A lot of fun, but I am so tired now I can hardly think.  I think I will just post a picture and go crawl in bed.

Zach and Employment

In the past, when we called the temp agencies, we usually had to wait a week to call them back, and then maybe a week later they might call us to see if a particular job matched up.  Yesterday afternoon at 2:30ish Zach called one of the temp places he has worked with before and left a message, called up another one, left a message, and got in touch with of a third one.  By the time he got off the phone with the third one, he had emails from the first two, hadn’t even answered them, and he got a call back.  And then another one.  He ended up spending an hour talking to people and emailing things to people and had to wait to go out (he was planning on running to the store with Zora right after leaving messages) because it was almost time to go to Zane’s speech therapy.  That was a surprise. 

The two more solid leads sound like there is a job in Hutch, but the pay isn’t spectacular, although my folks would be beyond thrilled if we moved back there, so there is that benefit.  (it is about an hour from here, so we could commute for a bit, but gas prices might make that a little dicey if the pay isn’t enough).  There is another solid lead for a job downtown that sounds really promising.  A good company, pretty good pay (not jaw dropping, but better than teaching), and it sounds like it would be a good match.   (who would have guessed that C++, of all of his vast computer skills, would be the one that might get him a job)  The sadly ironic part is that one of the things they would really like, that Zach doesn’t have, is the ability to speak German.  German, of all things.  lol.  I am the only person in my family that doesn’t speak German, and I grew up in a community where the only language class available was German (no Spanish or anything else).  I think I took Home-Ec, a totally useless waste of time for me (my skills were so much higher than what they taught it was beyond laughable), instead of German and I have been kicking myself for years.  So, if we get that job, it will be motivation to finally learn German beyond food and hymns.  lol.

Late last night Zach took some benchmark tests in C and C++ and got the results back today.  He did very well.  He is very proficent in C++, and considered a “Master” in C.  He did better than 93% of the people that have ever taken the test and is considered to be somebody who can mentor others in C language.  Not a surprise, but it feels good.  The company downtown was quite pleased with the results and is fast tracking the application (according to the temp person), so it is looking hopeful.

So, even though the job we really want isn’t calling back, I am SO relieved to finally hear something back that sounds good.   Neither of us want to move.  We are rooted here and don’t want to go away from my folks because they are such good grandparents to our kids (and it is really nice to have family around…I would really miss that).  The only job that would be worth moving for is the federal one, but if we can find a place here that fulfills our needs, then even that wouldn’t be as attractive.

Me, in which I realize I am a food snob

In the last few weeks, the budget has gotten so tight we are having to go back to shopping at Aldi’s and only shopping sales for meat.  I hate having to go back to that.  It is petty, but when I was going to the store, it really made me feel good to be able to buy what I was hungry for when I wanted it.  It made me feel more normal, like we weren’t so dang poor any more.  Well, even though I wasn’t going out and just being crazy about it, it was still killing our budget, especially when gas prices went up so much.  So, I realized that I have to reign it back in and go back to my old skill set.  I didn’t realize how important it had become to me to have the freedom to eat whatever fresh veggies, ect, appealed to me.  I never wanted to step foot in Aldis again because it represents a time in my life when food was scarce and I lived in fear of not having enough (because sometimes there wasn’t enough). 

However, we did it.  As depressing as it is, it is really nice to be able to do it smoothly.  Being able to cook at a really frugal level is a skill that I guess I haven’t lost.  The nice thing is that we aren’t having to have meal after meal of beans and rice or white noodles or ramen noodles with no meat, not because we are vegetarian, but because we can’t afford it.  This time, I am able to get some meat, just maybe not exactly what (or as much) I want, but it I am still able to make really good meals because I know how to cook from absolute scratch.  (pretty much anything in a box or can is out for us anyway because I am allergic to onions).  We cut out almost all of the snack foods, except a few select things for the kids (some cereal and pretzels) and it looks like I was able to stretch the budget enough that I only spent $100 in the last two weeks to feed my family, including at least one meal with meat every day, and I still have a few leftovers in the fridge for when the next paycheck starts tomorrow.  I am proud of myself for sucking it up and pulling myself out of the shallow little pity party I was having for myself.  It was stupid.  Just because we have to be on a tight budget doesn’t mean we will suddenly have nothing.  I know that is silly, but I felt like if we started living like that again, we would shoot back into being super poor again becuase it brought up so many old feelings.  Not reasonable, but once I realized what was getting in the way, I was able to work through it and our lives are better for it. 

Little Helpers

The kids are helping with laundry.  Zane seems to be the most enthusiastic about helping load the washer, and these days I need to remember to check if there is something in there when I start a load to avoid having a red shirt buried under all the whites and other potential problems.  Zora, on the other hand, is most enthusiastic about the dryer.  On a recent load, as I was unloading the dryer, I noticed as I pulled out the first shirt, two dryer sheets came out with it.  I didn’t think much of it, until I pulled out the second piece of clothes and another 3 or 4 dryer sheets came out with it.  Uh oh.  There had to be 30 or 40 dryer sheets in that load and the box of dryer sheets was empty.   The clothes had so much fabric softener on them they were probably waterproof.  lol.  Yesterday I bought another thing of dryer sheets and Zora couldn’t talk me into opening them, so she went to Grandma.  (they were here helping us pick up a mattress set for Zane in their bigger vehicle)  Grandma opened them, Zora grabbed a handful and ran to the dryer.  We put the rest up and I will need to store them up much higher now.

They are also helping with unloading the dishwasher, but since Zora isn’t tall enough to actually see into the drawers, it makes for some interesting sorting at times.  If Zane is in there he gets really upset when he sees her just chucking the silverware over the edge and not putting it into the proper slots and has designated himself as the “fixer” of the drawers.

New Bed

Zane has needed a new mattress set for some time.  When we bought his mattress we were dirt poor and couldn’t afford anything but the absolutely rock bottom cheapest set they had.  (and that was a stretch financially).  He keeps trying to go to sleep on Zora’s bed.  (the only reason Zora got the nicer mattress is because I still lay with her to put her to bed and Zane’s mattress is too cheap and noisy and I was honestly a little afraid I would break it and I couldn’t get out of that bed without a lot of noise).  Yesterday we got him a new mattress.  He was over the moon.  In the store when we went to get a few other items, he kept making sure we didn’t forget the bed.  That night, after the “God Bless….” he did the “Thank you for…” and included a big thank you for the bed.  lol.  He also had a thank you for showers.  Not sure where that came from, but it was sort of cute.

Cute

Zora is really excited about clothes and wants to change outfits several times a day (an hour sometimes).  Of course, she also likes running around stark naked too.  lol.  That is the most frustrating thing about doing laundry…if she sees me messing with clothes, she wants to try everything on and it is a real challenge to keep the clean clothes in the drawers.  It doesn’t help that the laundry pile is next to her dressers, which means I am probably washing a lot of “had it on for 30 seconds” clothes over and over again.  Oh, and when she brings you clothes, she holds them up saying they are “toot”  (cute).  Funny girl.

A conversation or two.

I was playing a nintendo game with Zane in his room one afternoon.  When one game ended, I wanted to leave to go do something else.  As I got up, explaining that I needed to go do something, Zane said “Where are you going Mama?”  It had such perfect intonation that I was halfway through my answer before I realized that Zane asked the question.  I told him I was going to do dishes….is that ok?  He said “No”.  I asked “What do you want me to do?”  He said:  “Play Mario Cart with me”.  So I did.  An actual conversation, with sentences you didn’t have to interpret.  Wow.

And about an hour ago he wanted to go outside, so I helped him get bundled up (although he put the boots on).  Zach went out with him since it is super slick outside.  As I stood in the door watching him, he looked up at me and said “It’s slippery Mama!” as he slid around on the patio and grass. 

He is really making some amazing gains.  It is clicking for him.

Delano’s Raisin Raisin bread (local bakery, regular and golden raisins)

Frozen waffles

2 kinds of bagels

3 kinds of cream cheese

and for dessert (after the kids go to bed), toaster pastries.

Guess what we bought?  lol

 (toaster)

edited to add:  Zora liked the raisins bread.  She took my bread and brought it back with all of the raisins picked out. 

I am just so happy and excited this holiday season.  Not a smidge of depression.  Nada.  I am so grateful for all of our blessings and full of the spirit of the season.

Even a trip to Walmart today couldn’t dampen my mood.  I parked way out, as far as a person can park from the store, literally, because I was by myself and the lot was so crowded (the traffic was backed up to even get into the parking lot) and I knew that others needed to be closer.  It was a long walk, through slush and snow pack.  The store was insanely crowded.  I have never seen anything like it in my life.  Now I know why I have always avoided shopping on Christmas Eve Day.  Shopping for my list took me two hours…it wasn’t that long of a list either.  Originally I was going to go to another store for a few items, but decided to just make due with “regular” green beans and forgo the BOGO on potatoes.  Not worth it. 

The funny part came when I tried to get back to my car.  What was an obstacle course walking became impossible with a cart full of groceries.  Carts need snow tires.  I finally had to just walk my cart down the middle of the rows where the cars drove, and I wasn’t the only one.  It was car – car – cart – car – car – car – cart -… and traffic was so slow that I kept getting the cart stuck in the snow ridges because I couldn’t get momentum going.  All the ice water puddles I was able to avoid walking in to the store I had to go through trying to get back.  Ankle deep ice water in clogs.  brrrrrrrrrr.  squish.   And I was in such a good mood that I was laughing at the ludicrous scene I was inevitably making as I was dealing with a cart sliding around on the ice and through the snow and noticed that other people stuck in their cars watching me in the ridiculous situation laughing along.  Upon arriving home, I had to undress at the front door to keep from tracking in muddy pants and watered shoes.  It was a trip. 

Getting ready to prep the food for tomorrow, go to the candlelight services tonight and wait for bedtime so we can finish wrapping the gifts.  I can’t wait.  I think I might have problems sleeping tonight.

Amazon.com has some great sales going.  I was able to get some great stuff for the kids for not a lot of dough.  Look in the category you want, then you can sort it by amount of discount.  I got quite a few things at a 70% + discount, and some in the 50-70% off stuff.  Of course, the toys are the mass marketed stuff, but if that isn’t an issue for your family, there are some great deals.

Some examples:  Tinkertoys, Leapfrog barn fridge magnets, Gears, Doll, LeapFrog Leapster TV Learning System

Although, there are things that are obviously not still on sale, because I got a thing of Lincoln Logs for Zane for $20ish that is now showing $80.  So, if the links aren’t still on sale when you go there, don’t be shocked.  However, I am pretty sure there are new things on sale.  Worth a look.