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.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friday, November 13, 2009
And The Winner is ...
Well my judges were very busy this week and did not have time to get back to me so I went through all the entries, 22 in all. I read them and tried some of them, I have already done some of the things on the list of ideas... well enough rambling.
Shirley if you send me your choice of either $20 to spend at http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri or 4 skeins of yarn from my stash, your choice of cotton or wool. And most important how to get the prize to you.
Shirley said...
Every time you get up, put something away in that room. Every time you leave the room, take something that belongs in another room and put it away. Every time you enter a room put something in that room away.
Decide on homes for everything. Not only does it make it faster to put away, it makes it easier to find.
Good Luck!
Although he was not a judge John liked Regan's advice, so to get me a little more organized I would like to send you 4 skeins of yarn. Please send me your address and specify cotton or wool.
Reagan said...
Hello! My mom is super-organized, and so she keeps us on top of organizing. :) One thing that worked surprisingly well was once a month, she has us go through our rooms and pick 5-10 things that we don't need--even including yarn stash. I mean, really, do you REALLY need that wool/acrylic blend sitting in the corner of your stash? Another thing that works wonders on my yarn stash is hanging cubbie organizers, which look like mesh shelves, but at the top have a hanger top, so you can hang your entire stash in a coat closet or even in your regular closet. :)
Other Really great ideas were from
evergreenknits said...
I'm only semi-organized myself, so I'm not sure I have great suggestions!! But for me, I found that the most important thing is to be careful about what things I bring into the house to begin with, and to try to balance bringing the new with clearing out the old.
heather said...
I like the flylady method for organizing. Set a timer for 15 mins go through one bin or box for those 15 mins. Timer goes off you are done for that day or you can set it again don't pull out more than you can put back in that 15 mins. Shelves are great. Baskets that fit on them neatly help your items look nice without being busy. Rubbermaid plastic totes are my favorite for safe longer time storage items.
wenat said...
I suck at keeping organized because of a singular lack of time. But one of my favourite tips was to throw two things out every day. Even if they're little things, it helps you keep focused on the eventual goal.
Elaine said...
Pick a reasonable amount of time - maybe an hour or two, and focus on one smallish area for that time. Then, reward yourself with an hour of something you love doing - knitting, walking, reading, biking, baking whatever. You will be surprised how quickly the work will go when you have something to look forward to at the end of the tunnel.
Jean said...
I would tackle organizing 15 minutes at a time, trying not to do it all in one day or week. Takes longer, but you keeps your sanity. This became necessary for me after having kids, but was confirmed by www.flylady.com. She and her peers are the bomb. I think of flylady as therapy for perfectionists, and a savior to the slobs of the world.
And remember, your house did not get disorganized in a day, so don't expect it to get organized over-night. Don't be too hard on yourself.
Turtle said...
pick at least one small area each day, even if it is just 20 minutes time to sort through, then seriously resort and be tough.(have i touched this in the last 12 months...)Have you seen the show clean sweep? this truly is a great way to get organized... take everything out of an area and go through it, and then you can get organized without the shuffling of goods. ** lol, beware of over doing plastic bins!! Sorry, but i have ocd, and organizing is one of my things. Came in super handy when we did the big move across the ocean a few years back though
So if you are anything like me these wonderful ladies have a lot of great ideas. and I did not have space to list all the great ideas so feel free to read through the comment section.
Enjoy your families and have a great weekend.
Shirley if you send me your choice of either $20 to spend at http://www.tinyurl.com/handmadebysheri or 4 skeins of yarn from my stash, your choice of cotton or wool. And most important how to get the prize to you.
Shirley said...
Every time you get up, put something away in that room. Every time you leave the room, take something that belongs in another room and put it away. Every time you enter a room put something in that room away.
Decide on homes for everything. Not only does it make it faster to put away, it makes it easier to find.
Good Luck!
Although he was not a judge John liked Regan's advice, so to get me a little more organized I would like to send you 4 skeins of yarn. Please send me your address and specify cotton or wool.
Reagan said...
Hello! My mom is super-organized, and so she keeps us on top of organizing. :) One thing that worked surprisingly well was once a month, she has us go through our rooms and pick 5-10 things that we don't need--even including yarn stash. I mean, really, do you REALLY need that wool/acrylic blend sitting in the corner of your stash? Another thing that works wonders on my yarn stash is hanging cubbie organizers, which look like mesh shelves, but at the top have a hanger top, so you can hang your entire stash in a coat closet or even in your regular closet. :)
Other Really great ideas were from
evergreenknits said...
I'm only semi-organized myself, so I'm not sure I have great suggestions!! But for me, I found that the most important thing is to be careful about what things I bring into the house to begin with, and to try to balance bringing the new with clearing out the old.
heather said...
I like the flylady method for organizing. Set a timer for 15 mins go through one bin or box for those 15 mins. Timer goes off you are done for that day or you can set it again don't pull out more than you can put back in that 15 mins. Shelves are great. Baskets that fit on them neatly help your items look nice without being busy. Rubbermaid plastic totes are my favorite for safe longer time storage items.
wenat said...
I suck at keeping organized because of a singular lack of time. But one of my favourite tips was to throw two things out every day. Even if they're little things, it helps you keep focused on the eventual goal.
Elaine said...
Pick a reasonable amount of time - maybe an hour or two, and focus on one smallish area for that time. Then, reward yourself with an hour of something you love doing - knitting, walking, reading, biking, baking whatever. You will be surprised how quickly the work will go when you have something to look forward to at the end of the tunnel.
Jean said...
I would tackle organizing 15 minutes at a time, trying not to do it all in one day or week. Takes longer, but you keeps your sanity. This became necessary for me after having kids, but was confirmed by www.flylady.com. She and her peers are the bomb. I think of flylady as therapy for perfectionists, and a savior to the slobs of the world.
And remember, your house did not get disorganized in a day, so don't expect it to get organized over-night. Don't be too hard on yourself.
Turtle said...
pick at least one small area each day, even if it is just 20 minutes time to sort through, then seriously resort and be tough.(have i touched this in the last 12 months...)Have you seen the show clean sweep? this truly is a great way to get organized... take everything out of an area and go through it, and then you can get organized without the shuffling of goods. ** lol, beware of over doing plastic bins!! Sorry, but i have ocd, and organizing is one of my things. Came in super handy when we did the big move across the ocean a few years back though
So if you are anything like me these wonderful ladies have a lot of great ideas. and I did not have space to list all the great ideas so feel free to read through the comment section.
Enjoy your families and have a great weekend.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Veteran's Day
I would like to send a special Thank you out to all our veteran's and their families.
The following Veteran's have had an impact on my families life:
Jay * - my dad
Jack - my uncle
Alec * - my father-in-law
Harry * - my uncle
Genie - my aunt
Joe - One of Eric's care givers
Joe - Family friend and Rabbi
Linda and Brian - Eileen's sister and brother-in-law
Carol - High School Friend
Don * - Eric's school bus driver.
*Some of our beloved veterans have gone but are still here in our hearts and minds.
If you have a veteran you would like mentioned just leave a note at the bottom of my blog.
The following Veteran's have had an impact on my families life:
Jay * - my dad
Jack - my uncle
Alec * - my father-in-law
Harry * - my uncle
Genie - my aunt
Joe - One of Eric's care givers
Joe - Family friend and Rabbi
Linda and Brian - Eileen's sister and brother-in-law
Carol - High School Friend
Don * - Eric's school bus driver.
*Some of our beloved veterans have gone but are still here in our hearts and minds.
If you have a veteran you would like mentioned just leave a note at the bottom of my blog.
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