Caught Between Two Worlds

My husband I and I were talking over dinner how we feel caught between the two worlds of parenting. We have come to the realization that we will never leave the diaper bag phase of our lives and yet we can not imagine what life would be like with out Eric. Yet at the same time we are going through the empty nest phase with our oldest Teri leaving for law school.

Each child has brought extreme joys and challenges to our marriage. Both of our children are so different they only way to know that they are siblings is by those gorgeous hazel eyes. We have managed to raise to the challenge of both children, lets just say that they both dropped off the pediatric developmental chart at 18 months of age but in opposite directions.

It is physically challenging to raise a disable child and the hours are long. The toll on the body is great. I love Eric's smile and gleeful chortle that seems to make it all worth while. Eric has taken us to places that we never would have imagined going to. He has gotten us special tours of places when we did not know that we needed to make reservations for a tour a year in advance in the first place. He has opened out lives to some of the best people on the planet. He has the knack of bring out the extremes in people either the best or worst, but mainly the best.

Teri on the other hand is the precocious child always asking, why, how, what. This can be harder then the challenge of the disabled child. While most of my friends were trying to keep their children from stuffing food into the VCR, Teri just had to know why when she put in tapes that looked the same on the outside gave her different stories, at 3 she just had to know how magnetic coding worked and how it was applied. We went through the same questioning with the solar system and volcanoes and just about any other subject. Her melt downs were usually because I could not explain how something like a laser worked. She did not like me to put her in time outs or to get in trouble so by the time she was in 1st grade she usually figured out on her own what she did wrong and anticipated what her punishment would be. She must have been one of the few children on the planet to utter the following phrase " leave me alone I in time out because I did____" with out being put in time out by an adult. So we taught Teri that you must look at a problem from all sides, that if you had 2 people in a room and could not come up with a least 3 view points that someone was asleep. This trend continued through out her life. I was at a speaking engagement once and had to excuse myself to take a call from Teri. Teri knew that I could not drive her home that day but called to see if she could go to a lecture on black holes with her friend and that her friend's mom would drive them home. It was the same day a highly anticipate CD was to be release and the malls were going to be packed. Some one had ask if she was asking to go get the CD, and I had to say no she wanted to go to a lecture on black holes. By the look on the persons face I could tell this was not a usual high school students reply, but it was typical Teri.

One would believe that with 22 years of experience with these two children that we would be prepared for this stage of life. We feel like empty nester's yet we have one child that will need care for the rest of his life. We would love to travel but you should see the amount of gear that Eric travels with, let put it this way, we fill the van to overflowing and yet everyone but Eric, only has an overnight bag for the week.

If you are ahead of us on this curve of life please let me know how you manage to handle things, otherwise we will just muddle through like we have for the last 22 years.

Have a good day and enjoy your families.

A Must Read Book

One of my must read books is being made into a movie, but before it happens you should read "Eat, Pray, Love: One woman's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Elizabeth is a very engaging writer and takes us through her post-divorce journey to wholeness. In Italy it's about the food, her flat mate and Italian language classes and her Italian tutor.

In India Elizabeth goes to a remote Ashram to try to understand her life and soul. Elizabeth goes into what life is like at the Ashram and the people she meets. By the time she leaves India she is well on her way on her new post divorce life.

In Indonesia, Elizabeth learns she does have power over her own universe and life. Elizabeth also learns to love again.

This is a unique book and the people Elizabeth meets along the way are awesome and teach her little life lessons along the way. I urge you to read the book before the movie comes out. It will have you laughing and crying and wishing that you could meet these people and make them apart of your life.

I have included a link to Amazon.com if you would like to buy the book on line, and use this link on the upper right corner of my web page, I will get a small commission.

Read this wonderful book and enjoy your families.

Low Fat Green Beans Almondine

I try not to use a lot of extra fat in my cooking and have finally come up with a low fat version that my husband likes. You can not be totally fat free because the almonds have some fat, but you will find no other fat in this recipe. Since we eat a large amount of vegetables in our house I feel this is a recipe for 2 to 3 people, however I am sure that it will serve more if you don't cover half of your plate with vegetables.

I cheated and used my steamer. It was fast and easy to do and would be a great recipe to let the children help assemble.

1 pound of fresh green beans rinsed and trimmed
8 ounces of fresh whole mushrooms cleaned and quartered
1/2 cup of sliced almonds, the slivers work the best

Layer the steamer tray as follows: the bottom layers should be the green beans , then spread the mushrooms evenly over the green beans. Finally sprinkle the almond slivers evenly over the top. I set my steamer for 10 minutes. Your green beans almondine are now ready to serve. There will be a large burst of steam when you open the steamer so do not let the children do this.

My husband did note that after dinner it was hard to get all the almond slivers out of the steam tray, but because the dish tasted good I should make it again and he would clean the tray out.

I use an Aroma Steamer, and have included a link to Amazon.com for the rice cooker and steamer that I use.

Cell Phone Courtesy

I would like to comment on cell phone courtesy for just a moment. We are told not to talk and drive, well I think it should also be applied to pushing a shopping cart.

This rant was brought about by more than several near misses at Costco today. Also by cell phone users blocking aisles while they are busy talking.

Please think about what you are doing.

Please think about what you are saying, we don't care what your ex wore to the party or whom they went with.

Please remember that is a small world, if it is meant to be a private conversation, have it at home where no one can ease drop.

Please don't glare at the person you just ran into with your shopping cart or worse yet car, because you can not walk, talk and drive at the same time. Multi tasking is very bad for you.

Please don't feel you have to talk on the phone all the way through a meal at a restaurant, we go out to have a good time and for some quite time. It's OK to answer the phone and then move outside to finish the call.

It is really OK to not answer a text message and talk to the people you are out with, after all you are out with them and not the people on the other end of the phone.

I know that this is an uber connected generation with children as young as 5 saying that their lives will be ruined with out the prerequisite cell phone. With cell phones, as with all things in life manners are a must.

If you disagree with this please remember the rules that my house lives by.
1. Mom is always right.
2. If mom is wrong see rule number 1.

My rule of thumb on this is to make this the type of world you would like to live in. We are all in this together. Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

My Art Fire Studio

I have been thinking about my Art Fire Studio http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri a lot lately. I still have not had one sale. So maybe it is time to take some things out and put others in.

For fall and winter I was thinking about adding some wool scarfs. I hope with the weather getting colder they might be useful in other parts of the country. I got a good deal on some nice bulky Cascade wool at a tag sale so I can do a bunch an list them for about $10.00 each and still make some money.

I was also thinking about a line of semi home made felted purses and tote bags. I would knit the blanks and the buyer can decorate and felt as they please. This will give the busy person a chance to say I made it myself.

So look for the changes to come soon. If there is something in my Studio that you like get ti now before i start de-listing items.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy your families.

A Short poem

Fall's Here
The wind is
Playing with
The trees.



It was a late start day for Eric today, so it was warmer as we waited at the bus stop for the bus. The first sound Eric heard was the wind blowing through the trees, I think he liked the sound of it, because he was smiling. so the above poem is dedicated to Eric.

Good-Bye Summer

Today is the first day off Autumn, a chill is in the air. It was under 80 degrees when I put Eric on the bus today, I stepped outside and had to run in to get a shawl for my shoulders. I am not one of those cold weather people, when it gets below 80 I cringe and below 70 well lets just say that I am counting the days to late spring and summer.

I know this is where the gaffes will start from those in colder climates where 80 degrees is a hot day, but I live in the desert and a slew of 100 degree plus days is what I love, It does not have to be record breaking shut down the airport hot, just above 100 is all I ask for.

For all you planning to visit Tucson this winter, I will be the one that has layers of clothing on, while those of you from colder climates will be walking around in shorts. Now really shorts in winter what are you thinking? I don't even wear shorts in summer.

So you will find me for the next 8 months or so cringing and under layers of clothing...maybe I should just hibernate for the fall and winter, but I don't think the house will run well with out me.

Have a wonderful day and enjoy the first day of Fall.