Coming up for air

But just for a moment. As Wednesday's post clearly outlined, it was not to be a quiet week around here. Thursday saw things starting to look up a bit as Mark called the FTB and the recording said that case number had been resolved. I still want to have a human actually confirm that it means what it sounds like. I'm just not trusting when it comes to any tax organization. Sue me. I was out of the house all day between our f2f meeting (which went well and our teacher thankfully got us out just after an hour since Nico had had enough of everything this week since stupid mommy left his good stroller in the truck which is still in Berkeley) and then I was able to drop off the rental car in San Jose and get a ride to my mom's house to borrow her old station wagon. While I'm grateful for the loan of it (Thank You Mom!) after spending 2 days in the rental car (Ford Taurus) and now the station wagon (Ford Escort Wagon), I'm really missing my truck. We have to cram Christopher between the two carseats in the back because I don't want Matthew's arm to get messed with since he just got his cast off and pin out. This leads to Nico kicking Christopher, wanting Christopher to roll the window up and down every 2 seconds, and screeching at him just for fun. This leads to Christopher screaming and yelling at Nico which then leads me to screaming and yelling at both of them to just shut up. Forget cell phones being a distraction, I've never been as distracted by a phone conversation as I am by the two of them. Sheesh!

We stayed home today as a) I didn't want to have to drive anywhere and b) we haven't been home to get anything done all week. Jonathan got all the schoolwork done that I felt we really needed to get done and the big boys worked on theirs. They've yet again been pretty lax with mommy's preoccupation and they are going to have to work hard tomorrow if they expect to play at the party on Sunday.

Speaking of which, tomorrow is baking day. The cakes we are trying this time should be much simpler and today was just too beastly hot to attempt baking if it wasn't necessary so we'll get two cakes baked tomorrow, one frosted and totally ready and the other one shaped for a quick frosting job on Sunday morning. I'll be sending Mark out for a few staples we need from Costco and the paper goods I haven't been able to pick up this week. Maybe he can take the 2nd pair so I can get some presents wrapped.

On the car front, I was supposed to hear back today when I would be getting it back but true to form, they didn't call to give me that information. I called this morning to ask and was told that they had my transmission out and off to the shop that will rebuild it and they would be getting it back either today or Monday and it would be ready the following day. I also talked to them about the state of my starter which we know needs to be replaced. They quoted the price for the part (about what we knew it was going to cost) and said there would be no labor charge since they already have everything apart so we are getting that done too so it's just all happy again. At least, that's the theory.

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
Anger and hatred cannot bring harmony. The noble task of arms control and disarmament cannot be accomplished by confrontation and condemnation. Hostile attitudes only serve to heat up the situation, whereas a true sense of respect gradually cools down what otherwise could become explosive. We must recognize the frequent contradictions between short-term benefit and long-term harm.

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Cooperation is imperative for a healthy family, body, society, and nation. How does one develop cooperation? By force? Impossible! So what is the alternative? Voluntary actions, altruism, an showing concern for the welfare and rights of others.

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Buddhist texts speak of four principal obstacles that one must overcome for meditation to be successful. The first is mental scattering or distraction, which arises at the course level of mind and refers to the tendency for our thoughts to be scattered.



State of my sink: Shiny again!

52:23 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

All I can say is Wow! At about 100 pages left in the book, I just felt I HAD to finish it and could not put it down. Well fleshed out characters, incredibly political intrigue which kept me wondering and guessing how it would all work out right until the end (gotta love that), and a neat new world to explore. It really seems like this was a well through out book where she knew her world (even if we don't know all of it yet), she gives us enough detail that we aren't lost but spends most of the book developing the characters and the story. I'm really looking forward to the next one in the trilogy.

52:22 Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

Well, being too pissed off to do much else today, I decided to lose myself in my books as much as the kids would allow (which was quite a bit as they realized I was not in a mood to deal with any of their usual crap).

So my impressions of Prince Caspain (made before getting in such a horrid mood). Decent book but way too much emphasis on descriptive scenery with a decent nod to a plot and almost no character development. In all honesty, this would have been much better cut down and used to start an adventure book rather then being the entire thing. Just not enough meat on the bones of this one. On to The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Can't F*cking Take Any More!!!!

Seriously, stick a fork in me cause I'm way over done. On top of Matthew breaking is arm in Feb, more Dr. apts than I care to remember between that and their "Nico is autistic" crap, the state deciding that the statue of limitations had run out on any return we were due for an old tax return even tho the money due was because they had garnished Mark's wages for over $700, Mark's job stress, then my transmission blowing out yesterday...as if all that weren't enough...Today I get a letter from the State saying that they didn't receive my 2006 return and they want over $3600 in late fees, penalties, and everything else under the sun! I filed them late, yes, I admit that, but I filed before the deadline they gave me!!! I DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!!!! But now the receipt that I had proving that I mailed it has mysteriously vanished (I'm blaming a pair of feet almost 3' tall for that) and I'm just done. I literally broke down crying hysterically because this is just more than I can take any more. We will try talking to the state but CA is so freaking broke that they really don't give a sh*t about anything except f*cking people for every little cent they can. Our post office sucks so I'm sure there is no record I could possibly pull. They have cost us sooooo much money by not delivering notices and bills until they are on their final notice and tons of late fees and penalties have been incurred.

Seriously, I can't take any more. I'm shaking and trying to keep the tears back as I really need to go deal with the kids. I just don't understand why this is all happening. We are trying so hard to be good people, help others who are in need, and get our act together and out of debt and now out of nowhere in 24hrs, we are looking at another $5500 worth of debt staring us in the face and more than half of it is totally undeserved! I HATE THIS!!!!

Matthew's taking a bath!!!

Yes, I know, it shouldn't be a big deal for a 9½yr old to be taking a bath but it means that HE IS CAST FREE!!! The xrays showed that he has healed beautifully with nice new bone growth and it seems we may have dodged the bullet and it hasn't actually damaged the growth plate. Big, huge sigh of relief there. His pin is out, his arm is sore, but he is a very happy guy right now just soaking in a big bathtub of warm water.


In truck news, it was the transmission as we were afraid of. This has not been a good year for the budget in regards to my truck. We've already spent $500 on new tires, $200 on new brakes, now I've just authorized $2200 for a rebuilt transmission and we still need to spend another $200 on a new starter. It better be nice and happy for a good long time now after all this TLC. I know it's 12yrs old and it's pretty normal wear and tear, but sheesh, did it all have to happen within a 2mo period of time??? *sigh*

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If our love for someone is based largely on attraction, whether it be their looks or some other superficial characteristic, our feelings for that person are liable, over time to evaporate. When they lose the quality we found alluring, the situation can change completely, this despite their being the same person. This is why intimate relationships based purely on attraction are almost always unstable.


State of my sink: I'm afraid to look

Got stranded in Berkeley today

My transmission decided to crap out on my suburban when I was out there for a field trip with the boys today. I know it could have been worse as we were able to pull over easily in a safe location, get towed to local AAA shop and get a rental car all within 2hrs of this happening but still. We had just come up with a plan for busing out butts to come up with an emergency fund and get out of debt and now this! We are totally broke right now and will be until next week when Mark gets paid again and we will likely have to borrow money to get this fixed. It just sucks and I am trying hard not to just break down sobbing at this newest set back. Doesn't help that the repair shop didn't call back today like they said they would and by the time I got back home and could call them, they had all gone home for the day so now I have to wait til tomorrow to see just how bad this is going to be. I'm guessing since I saw the guy pushing it into the bay because the transmission totally gave out when he tried to testdrive it that it's not going to be good.

Of course all of this had to interfere with Nico's nap too so now he's ultra cranky and I'm ultra-stressed. Not a good combo. Ugh!!! And then add in Mark's job stress and it's just not happy times over here right now. I keep trying to look at the bright side...Mark is still employed, we were able to get home safely, and while we will probably have to miss Baycon totally now to pay for this, we should be able to dig out of this quickly and get back on track.

But it still sucks.

A few quick updates on things...

I realized after talking to several people in the last week that I have been lax on updating a few things around here so let me take a moment to do so now.

• Baby Jonathan (my friend Jen's son) is home now safe and sound where he belongs. The meds and transfusion did their job and his liver is repairing itself so no transplant needed, thank G-d. He is on a special formula tho, along with several meds, and will continue to receive out-patient care for a while to come but he is mending and he is home so that is wonderful news.
• On the homeschool ruling that was basically saying that all children needed to be in a classroom with an accredited teacher. That ruling has been dismissed and the case is to be reheard. I have been following what's going on through various homeschool organizations and our charter school but it has not changed how we are doing things in the slightest.
  
• My friend Crystal who was having all the problems with pre-term labor gave birth on Sunday to a healthy baby boy at almost 38wks gestation. Mom and baby are doing well.
• Matthew's arm has been itching and driving him nuts and I'm very thankful he hasn't gnawed the cast off (tho he does need to watch how he moves that thing LOL). We have an appointment in Ortho tomorrow for x-rays to see how things are healing and hopefully they will remove the cast. He has a countdown ticker on his blog for this event. LOL
• Things are still crazy with Mark's job situation. Still overworked and understaffed. *sigh* He keeps getting told to hire some people but then everything blows up and the time he tries to carve out for reading resumes and interviews gets eaten up by other emergencies. He's planning on working late for the next bit to try and get the time to do that and catch up on some other work but he's really down about the whole work situation right now. Please continue to keep him and his company in your prayers.

I think that's about it. It's another crazy week here with a field trip today, drs apt tomorrow, and our face-to-face Thursday plus our usual activities and getting ready for a birthday party on Sunday. Thankfully the boys' speech teacher is on vacation this week so we don't have that and Jon wasn't feeling great yesterday morning so we called off OT and that gave me a few extra hours to my week. I managed to get everything ready for our f2f so that's done and I've started in on the taxes. As much as I would love to just get an hour or two all at once to just get them done, I don't think that's going to happen so I'm going to try and just do a little piece at a time so they get done and filed sooner rather than later.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I feel that Americans are interested [in Buddhism] because they are open-minded. They have an education system that teaches them to find out for themselves why things are the way they are. Open-minded people tend to be interested in Buddhism because Buddha urged people to investigate things--he didn't just command them to believe.


State of my sink: Shiny!

So what did I get done?

Glad you asked. Still not everything on my list since, as always, things crop up but I don't think I did too badly.

Saturday

• Thorough clean of cat box area (Mark & Chris)
• Thorough clean of rat stuff (Mark & Chris)
• Thorough decluttering of boys' room (me & big boys) (ok, not a thorough decluttering but we found the floor, their table, their bed, their lego shelves, and their game corner and got through a whole bookcase. We still have the other bookcase, toy chest, and stuffed animals to get through but it was still a ton of work.
  
• Phonics lesson with Jonathan (actually did on Sunday and only got the one done but hey, better than nothing)
  

Sunday

• Get tax software from mom (Mark & Nico)
  
• Balance checkbook & Pay Bills
• Clip coupons, make menu & shopping list (and the rest is almost done)
  
• File taxes (nope, didn't get near this one *sigh*)
  
• School with boys
• Agendas, PE Logs, Attendance records, pull work samples for F2F meeting this week (not much left to do here)
  
• Update wall calendar

Dishes stayed done and the laundry kept getting cycled through but not folded. Probably won't get to that tonight but we don't have speech tomorrow, just OT so that frees up a little time. Yeah!

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State of my sink: Shiny!!!

Introducing Ruby and Louise

Our two newest family members were brought home today, a birthday gift to Jonathan from his Grandma and Papa Davis! Ruby is a very light lilac hooded rat and Louise is a black hooded rat. They are both very young, not yet full grown and were actually saved from being snake food by our intervention. They are still a bit skittish but are responding well to being handled and hopefully will calm down with more constant affection and maturity.

52:21 The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

Ok, this one is a re-read for me but I haven't read it in ages, I loved it as a child, and I want to read the entire series (I know, I know, bout time) and then we are going to use it as a literature study for Chris.

What can I say about this book that hasn't already been said 1000s of times before? Nothing really. It's an enchanting and lovely tale of Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy discovering Narnia and Aslan. A fairy tale with mythological leanings that creates, by the, end a place ripe for imagination to delight in. I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of the series holds.

Weekend to-do list

So in the interest of actually, maybe, hopefully, possibly getting everything done, I'm trying to pare down my to-do lists to a more manageable size. So here goes with this weekend's list:

Saturday

• Thorough clean of cat box area (Mark & Chris)
• Thorough clean of rat stuff (Mark & Chris)
• Thorough decluttering of boys' room (me & big boys)
• Phonics lesson with Jonathan

Sunday

• Get tax software from mom (Mark & Nico)
  
• Balance checkbook & Pay Bills
• Clip coupons, make menu & shopping list
• File taxes
• School with boys
• Agendas, PE Logs, Attendance records, pull work samples for F2F meeting this week
• Update wall calendar

And of course, stay caught up with dishes and laundry which is never ending.
Wish me luck!

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
When in the company of others
I shall always consider myself as the lowest of all,
And from the depth of my heart
Hold them dear and supreme.

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Hard to believe it's been 7 years since my monkeyboy entered this world. Our adventure actually began on April 2 when I started having this very intense pain like a sword running through my mid-section. Mark was working late trying to get a release out but by 12m, I was not longer able to hold anything down and could tell something was very wrong. I finally got ahold of him around 2a after trying for 2hrs and he came home and got some sleep. I tried to sleep but couldn't through the pain. I knew it wasn't contractions but I had no idea what was wrong. I called into L&D later that morning and we all agreed I should get checked so we headed in after dropping the two big boys off at school.

Then the fun began. I wasn't contracting but the tests showed I was dehydrated and my kidneys and other vitals weren't happy. They decided to put me on IV fluids to see if I just had a virus or something and they would rerun the tests in the evening. They did say, however, that if the numbers didn't start looking better, they would induce in the morning. I wasn't overly concerned at that point but did ask what the risks were since I was only 36½wks along. They told me at this point, the lungs were developed and the risks would be minimal to Jonathan. Mark hung out with me for a bit then went to go get the boys from school and get the suitcase. They hung out with us for a bit and then got picked up to go home. Mark went and rented movies from Blockbuster and we just continued to hang out. The tests were rerun and the levels were not where they wanted to see them so we were put into a better birthing room and the administered the cervical gel in preparation for inducing in the morning.

I wish that night were a blur but it's not. I'm a huge advocate of nurses as I think they are a vital part of the medical field and perform some of the most thankless tasks in the name of patient care but oh, man, the nurse I had that night almost got strangled! They needed to keep an eye on Jonathan's vital signs. Got that. It's kind of important to make sure he's doing okay. They want my blood pressure to stay down. Okay, I can understand that too. Unfortunately, in order to keep my bp down, I needed to be on my left side but in that position, they couldn't get a reading on Jonathan so this nurse came in and treated me like a piece of meat on a spit, rolling me from back to side and back again every few minutes. All this when I'm contracting and am supposed to be getting induced in a few hours which means LABOR! I finally told Mark if she came in and tried to turn me again, I would rip her head off (this had been going on for over 2hrs at this point and I still think I deserve a medal for not having gone off on her already). He, being the most wonderful husband ever, went out to talk to the midwife and told her the problem and said she needed to choose which was more important, my bp or monitoring the baby and that she needed to get a new nurse in there pronto before there was a serious smackdown administered. She confirmed that all of that was not good for me and that monitoring the baby was most important. She also got a new nurse in there (apparently we were just about at shift change). The new nurse had an awesome system. She kept me on my back and resting. When I had to get up to pee (which was frequently enough because of the IV fluids), she would notice and come in to help me get back into bed on my left side. She would leave me there for 10min and then run the bp, then get me back onto my back and reposition the monitors to keep an eye on Jonathan. Worked like a charm. I got to rest, they got to keep an eye on Jonathan's vitals, and they got a nice bp reading at least once an hour. I also begged her to let me take a shower before the induction as I knew I'd be bedbound until the baby was out once they started. She talked to the midwife and it was agreed I could have a 15min shower just before they got things started. Ahhh...heaven!

So around 6a they started the pitocin. I was determined to try and go as natural as possible but by 8a I had had enough. The contractions were strong and constant and my body had zero control over them so I begged for an epidural. They started checked me out and realized I was at 9cm (so much for the epi) but something wasn't right. The midwife got the dr to come in and check with an u/s and sure enough, little stinker had flipped and was now breach (we aren't sure when this happened but Mark still thinks it was that nurse flipping me for hours that caused it). Due to my almost non-existent platelets they didn't want to risk delivering him that way so now we were talking emergency c/s. Ok, fine, can someone stop the pitocin then? They are prepping the room but because of the platelets again and how fast he's trying to come, they are going to have to do a general. Great, can someone PLEASE turn off the pitocin?!?!?!?! They all go about getting the c/s prepped, Mark can't be with me, I'm going to be out for the birth but the only thing going through my mind is that I need to PUSH! I tell them that and they freak out and tell me absolutely not to push. WELL, THEN TURN OFF THE PITOCIN!!!!! I was knocked out by 9a (and very relieved to not have to keep from pushing).

The next thing I remember it was 12n and I was waking up in recovery (different area). The nurse came over and told me I had a son. Thanks, knew that. And I fell back asleep. I woke a few hours later (3p maybe) and was finally able to be wheeled up to the maternity ward. Mark met me there and showed me a picture of Jonathan. It was all I was to see until after 5p. He was in the Level II nursery and the nurse couldn't be bothered to bring him to me (amazing how the day nurse never could but the night nurses had no problems at all). His blood sugar was too low and he needed to be on IV fluids until my milk came in. It wasn't a big deal but one that made it very difficult while we were in the hospital as I was always fighting with the nurses to be able to see my baby, even going so far as to have to walk down the hall less than 36hrs after my c/s to go nurse him. Ugh!

But a few days later we were all home and a bit of jaundice was our worst problem. He grew quickly but refused to sleep unless being held. And in 7yrs now, that hasn't really changed. He still won't go to sleep unless there is someone in the bed with him. LOL

It has been such a joy and blessing to be his parent. In 7yrs, we have all been blessed with his joyous smile that truly does make the world a brighter place, his laughter that seems to make the sun shine, and his cuddles which can make the worst thing in the world not quite as bad. He is one of those people who literally just makes the world a better place simply by being him.

In 7yrs, we have seen him go from a constantly squirming babe-in-arms to the true monkey that he is, climbing everything with abandon. We have pulled him off of furniture and refrigerator tops when he was 18mos, off walls and doorways before he was 4yrs, and out of trees with branches too small to hold him when he was 5yrs. He's gotten a tiny bit better at realizing what could be dangerous to climb but we all know, if you can't find Jonathan, look up.

In 7yrs we have watched him grow into the sweetest, cuddliest, sensitive, caring, compassionate, energetic, helpful, cheerful, joyful, and just generally happy child. We love you sweetie. We love being your parents. We love being part of your life. We love watching you grow. We love your smiles, your laughs, your cuddles, your hugs. We love you!

The Holiday Shopping Has Begun!

Yep, it's official, I just crossed the first two people off my Christmas shopping today. WooHoo!!! I also have one niece's birthday all wrapped up and the other one started and one of my nephew's done as well. And almost everything was 50% or more off! *doing the happy dance* Oh, yeah, and I picked up a couple of cute new shirts for me too at 60% off. Yeah!!!

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
I always say that every person on this earth has the freedom to practice or not practice religion. It is all right to do both. But once you accept a religion, it is extremely important to focus your mind on it and sincerely practice the teachings in your daily life.


State of my sink: Still shiny!

52:20 The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

A dear friend of mine read this book and recommended it so I checked it out and I'm so glad I did. Not a get rich quick scheme but it showed us a few of the errors we were making with our money while trying to get out of debt and I think it will help me to convince Mark of what we need to do to live debt-free which has been our hope. We will have our emergency fund fully funded by the end of this month with his bonus and by June will be starting to really knock down our debt while saving for all those things that come up like birthdays, holidays, car repairs, clothing needs, etc. We've been trying on our own but our plan was a bit faulty which always left us scrambling when a car would break or life just decided to smack us. Now we have a simple but very workable plan and we hope to be debt free except for our house in 2yrs or less and then we can start saving for retirement, college funds, and a new house in earnest!

Busy Couple of Days

Nothing super exciting, just getting lots of little things done around the house. Almost found my breakfast counter again, cleaned out the closet late last night so I had a place to put Jon's presents which I had just wrapped, cleaned out the beach towels, listed a bunch of stuff on freecycle and it's almost all spoken for, taught a bunch of lessons to Jonathan, talked to our new mortgage company (apparently our loan got sold), basically read an entire book (yes, in two days), took the boys to game night, got the laundry caught up including getting everything hung up properly, kept caught up with the dishes and shining the sink, cleared off the changing table which had gotten buried yet again, and got Jonathan's invitations out. So yeah, just a few things are getting done. Yeah!!!

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Insights from the Dalai Lama:
In my childhood, I had a religious assistant who always told me, "If you can really laugh with full abandonment, it's very good for your health."
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Ultimately all human beings want to pursue the path of peace.
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The creatures that inhabit this earth-be they human beings or animals-are here to contribute, each in its own particular way, to the beauty and prosperity of the world.


State of my sink: Shiny of course!

What is that?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

April Fool's!!!!

So excited!!!!

Yes, I know this is my third post basically in a row but each of these has been so different in content from the others that I felt they each deserved there own space and this one in particular has me wanting to cartwheel in street. Matthew has finally taken to reading!!!! As in, he has actually finished a chapter book voluntarily and found one of his other barely started chapter books and has been reading in it every spare moment lately reading!!! This the child who I had to bribe (with basically no success) to read anything other than Garfield or Bone books. I'm thrilled beyond belief that he has finally realized that reading is so wonderful. He also started his own Shelfari page and posted it on his blog and I've set him a challenge of a book a month from March til the end of the year. He has finished the first one and is close to halfway through the second one even now. What does he win if he meets the challenge??? A trip to the bookstore to buy any new chapterbook he wants of course!

Day 1 on the schedule

Just thought I'd update on how our first day (yesterday) went on the new MOTH schedule. Mr. Anti-Schedule was up to his usual tricks and woke for an hour at 5:15a, just when I was scheduled to have my morning routine time to get dressed, start laundry, answer emails, etc. Despite this, the morning did go fairly smoothly through until evening when Mark ended up working very late so I didn't get to Curves and we ended up eating Safeway chicken for dinner because Mark wasn't home to cook while I was shopping during the boys' KSW. This did end up leading to the kids going down a little later than desired, but not by much. All in all, I have to say it was a very good start.

Now technically that schedule is only for MWF but the morning routine will be the same through 9a every day (yes, even most weekends) so we tried it again this morning. Of course, Nico decided to wake up again during my morning routine so again, that time got thrown off but we recovered....until we had a visit from a strange dog that just wanted to play with the boys. It took about an hour and a lot of running around on the part of the boys' to return the dog to it's owner by which time we had to leave for Nico's hearing test and to run some errands. By the time we returned Christopher was sporting a severe headache and the other boys were just done in so we will do a bit more reading but otherwise, call it a day in regards to schedule or school. Actually our TTh for the next two weeks have something to throw them off (more dr's appointments, field trips, ect) so we will just be concentrating on the MWF full schedule and trying to stick to our morning and evening schedule the rest of the time. Have I mentioned yet how much I'm sick of Dr's appointments and how happy I'll be to go a month without one????? Hasn't happened yet this year. *sigh*

Wow, really, he can hear?!

Gee, think I've seen too many drs lately that love to state the obvious? Yes, Nico had his hearing test today and the results were astounding. He has absolutely no problems with his hearing whatsoever. Really, I'm shocked, speechless even. *insert huge eye roll here* Actually, the two amazing things of the appointment were that he actually behaved well and did what he needed to do so we were out of there in 10min and that I heard everything too so I guess he hasn't damaged my hearing yet with all his shrieking. I do think I've suffered some brain damage tho as every time he does it, my head wants to split wide open and leak my brains all over the place.

Also got the results of the abbreviated ASD screening in. What a freaking crock. I was right to worry that they are going to do everything they can to find something, anything to be able to label him. The report went so far as to say that what I was reporting as behavior likely due to motion sickness and lack of sleep is not consistent with what they expect. Well, f*** that. I guess I must be autistic too then because that is EXACTLY how I behave under those circumstances. I can NOT look people in the eye when I'm like that as the peripheral movement makes my head swim worse and tends to make me throw up. What freaking ever. Honestly, even if he is (which I highly doubt), he is an even milder case than Christopher. He doesn't have any of the really worrying signs which would point to a case that truly needs intervention and I know that I actually let them keep testing him, they'll find someway to label him. It's the new fad diagnosis and since everyone can technically fall somewhere on the spectrum anyway, it's easy enough to get diagnosed with something. At this point, I'm done with this witch-hunt unless I start seeing something that actually troubles me or one of the Drs or specialists we see on a more regular basis tells me to be concerned. I will admit that I had to look at Mark and say "told you so". You'd think by now he'd just listen to me straight off, it saves so much time and trouble.

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Insight from the Dalai Lama:
If you must be selfish, then be wise and not narrow-minded in your selfishness.


State of my sink: Shiny!!!

52:19 Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Not quite sure what I was expecting after all the hype and reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister but it wasn't this. It's not a bad book by any means and I did enjoy it but not as much as Confessions but I'm not sure why. I think there were just a couple of places where he just stopped the story only to pickup a few years later and it felt jarring to me and left me wondering "so what happened in between?" I really wanted to know more about what her life had been like when she went underground before Fiyero found her. I'm sure that what she experienced during that time would have had a further impact on her worldview and outlook but that part was totally skipped. On the whole an interesting concept and a good read but it did leave me scratching my head a bit in places.