Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

First I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. I would like to make a short (maybe not) list of what I am thankful for today.

1. My Husband
2. My Children
3. My Family
4. My Friends near and far.
5. The wonderful world that G'd created for us.
6. My Yarn, I know it sounds cheesy but yarn really does have a calming influence on me. This also includes independent spinners and dyers and my local yarn shops.
7. The wonderful desert that surrounds my city.
8. All the people that help me get Eric through the day.
9. All the people who make Eric feel needed and part of the community.
10. The quiet times in my life, after all we all need down time.
11. All the people who are willing to share their wisdom with me.
12. All the people who make beautiful music.
13. Everyone who strives to make this a better world for everyone. My hope is that someday I will have time to join you in your endeavors.
14. The members of the military past and present who have and continue to make this day possible.
15. The people such as Police, Firemen and other public safety providers.
16. Everyone who has a smile or happy thought for me.
17. All of Eric's doctors throughout the years for being there when you were needed.

For this and all that I have forgotten to mention, Thank you so much for being part of my life.

Enjoy your families and have a wonderful day.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Runners Needed

The reason I am posting this blog on the Sjogren's running team is that I have this form of arthritis. So if you are a runner or would like to try a marathon or a half marathon please consider this run.

Recruiting Team Sjogren's Participants for the Nashville Country Music Marathon!

Do you want to make a difference for Sjögren's patients and their families?
Have you or someone you know every thought about running a marathon or half-marathon?
Do you have a desire to challenge yourself?

Then you might have what it takes to join Team Sjogren's and train to participate in the:

Country Music Marathon & Half-Marathon
Nashville, Tennessee
April 24th, 2010

Team Sjögren's is a Marathon Training Program designed to help you train and prepare to participate in a marathon (26.2 miles) or half-marathon (13.1 miles).

In exchange for training and support, you help raise awareness and money towards research into a cure for Sjögren's, the second leading Autoimmune Rheumatic disease in the Country.

The Nashville Team Sjogren's Kick-Off Teleconference Call has been scheduled for December 2, 2009 at 8pm EST!

If you would like to join us on the call or have questions about Team Sjogren's, contact Elyse Jordan at
(800) 475-6473 ext. 217 or ejordan@sjogrens.org

Please feel free to pass this on to the runners in your life. You may also print this blog post for bulletin boards. Every one can make a difference.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

We Made it Through the Day

Well we made it through the bitter-sweet day of Eric's birthday in mostly one piece. I know that this will take some explanation after all birthdays are happy days and are considered on of the sweetest days for a person each year. After all they mark the anniversary of our beginning of this life. And we consider it all the more sweet because we made it through another year in Eric's life.

The bitterness comes from the fact that while Eric is getting older his skills are not increasing. Almost all of his friends from the early years are freshman or sophomores in college. I hear about all there exploits from their parents and I am truly happy and amazed at what Eric's friends are doing. One friend has plucked himself down in South America in a semester long Spanish immersion program, this is a big wow. But this is not Eric's path in life. he will never be college material and will never leave the nest. I did let myself have my yearly 6 hours of grief over this, ate a carbo rich lunch and pulled myself together.

I am grateful that Teri and Eric still get along and that her birthday Skype call made his day. Eric made so many happy sound during the call, he was truly happy to hear his sister and can not wait for her winter break to get more Teri time.

I am grateful for having Eric in my life and I would not trade Eric or his quirks in for anything in the world. It is simply amazing the places a child like Eric can take you if you let them. But I do wish it was not so much work. This is the selfish part of me talking. I would like to be able to make long range plans like all my friends are at this point in my life but instead I plan and Gd laughs. So I continue to live my life day by day, hour by hour knowing that there are more challenges yet to come.

Well I have to go and get ready for day 2 of Eric's birthday, we usually let him celebrate for about a week. That is when we truly get tired of the birthday clown that I spent days looking for and he goes back on the shelf for another year.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

We Found the Birthday Clown


This is the object of Eric's birthday desires. It has not been a birthday since kindergarten when one of his friends gave this to him as a birthday present.

I tried a new tactic today. I brought the toy boxes into the house with the help of Joe, Eric's morning aide. I was going to go through the boxes one by one dumping them on the floor till I found him. He was hiding in the second box we dumped.

It is worth having to bring out the vacuum, to clean the rug to see the smile on Eric's face. I am not sure who had the bigger smile the clown or Eric.

Now I can get on with my day with out any worries about the clown or tomorrow. Dinning room table and filing here I come. No I will not show you pictures of the table till the table runner is down the middle and decorated with candles.

Have a wonderful and productive day. But most of all enjoy your families.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Looking in all the Wrong Places

Or where or where is the birthday clown.

Well we have a birthday coming up on Friday and we have not been able to find the birthday clown, the yellow one with the smiley face. The one that sings happy birthday. We have not seen him since we started the remodel last year.

Today with the help of Eric's aide we went through all the stuffed animal boxes, and no you really don't want to know how much we took out of Eric's room in order to redo the floor. Well after going through each box twice I am wondering if I put the clown somewhere else. It is very probable since the house got turned upside down for 4 months and I still don't have everything back in place.

I did how ever find all of Eric's extra blankets and have started washing them. I wonder how many load of laundry 90 quarts of blankets will be? This means one less box in the garage.

The question of the day is where or where are you dear sweet clown. It would be nice if you just showed up on Eric's shelf where you are suppose to be. I am off on a clown hunt, I hope to find him by Friday.

Have a nice evening and enjoy your families.

New season coming.

Monday, November 16, 2009

How to Tick off a Teen in Less than 5 Minutes

OK, I have managed to tick off my teen in less than 5 minutes after getting off the school bus. This must be a new record for me.

It all started before Eric got home. I could not get Tivo to bring up my i-pod music so I went to Eric's music file and started that while I was doing house work. There is nothing like up beat fast music to clean by.

With in less than a minute of rolling through the door the crying started. This is very usual for my happy go lucky party guy. So the 20 question game started.

1. did he have a bad day at school. he signed no.
2. did something hurt. again he signed no.
3. was there something in his eye. again he signed no.

The questions went on for 2 minutes, with Eric crying like the world had ended. I was almost at wits end. That's when the song change up came and I told him that I really liked this song, He just glared at me. Then the right question finally came,was mommy not suppose to listen to his music. A very loudly signed yes with a glare. OK I know sign language is silent but if you want to intone yelling you move your hands with slow large gestures to emphasize your words. OK time for PBS and Martha Speaks.

And this is how to tick a teenager off in less than 5 minutes, just listen to their music, who knew. This has never been in the parenting books or articles on parenting that I have ever read.

Well all is calm now, so I guess it is time to get back to organizing the house. I dared to enter a new room today and have filled up one trash bag so far. The room will definitely win today, but maybe sometime soon I will win the clean up wars.

Have a great day and enjoy your families.