Fabulous Saturdays...

I love a beautiful Saturday.

It's the one day I feel relaxed all day.  We take the morning slow...and do what we want through the day.

Today, after a week of snow and seizures, Max was in a fabulous mood and we got out of the house.  We ran a few errands, and ate a picnic at the park.

It was a fabulous day which called for something fabulous to wear.  So, I wore my most fabulous shoes.



Husband must have liked this shot, since he took it as I was eating my lunch on the park bench, next to this fella who was busy watching ducks and jumping fish in the pond.



Fab, fab, fab Saturday.

A nice cuppa...

Max's weekly schedule has picked up significantly this school year.  That's not a bad thing, it's just - busy.

For so many years, we didn't have much going on.  He didn't have school, he only had therapy a couple times a week.  And he snoozed a lot!

Now, I rarely sit down until 3:00 in the afternoon.  He has therapy every day except Fridays.  And has two sessions of school over video chat with his classmates daily, as well as his teacher coming for an hour three days a week.

From 3:00-5:00 I try to catch up on phone calls or do some laundry, or whatever else I can fit in before the evening schedule picks up.

Thursday and Friday are a little easier on the schedule.  I usually have more time to make phone calls, and answer emails that have piled up all week.  I also occasionally will sit and have a nice cuppa.

I have a special cabinet where I keep my tea and teacups.  Each cup is from someone special, or from some place special.

It's always nice to sit, holding a cup of hot tea and think of a special someone, or special place.

Now, back to phone calls and emails!

Morning Crunchy...

I tend to shy away from telling people what to do.  I think it stems from my feeling of not wanting to be told what to do.  So, I doubt I'll be too preachy about diet things on here.  It is simply a place for me to put my ideas and thoughts about why it works for me.  

That said, this change in our way of eating has really made me feel better.  There are so many studies out there about how cow dairy is unhealthy these days, unless you milk Bessy yourself in your clover covered field.  But, again, while I read some of those studies - because my husband is quite adamant about it - it isn't why I've stopped eating cow dairy.  I stopped because it makes me feel gross.  All the other reasons found in studies are just bonus to me.

I do still eat dairy...just not cow dairy.  I eat goat and sheep cheese and coconut milk for my recipes calling for milk.  We use goat butter, and Steve eats goat yogurt every morning.  Max gets fortified rice milk in his daily food blends and he and Abbey both eat coconut yogurt.  And we all like coconut ice cream.

This morning, I had a huge bowl of yogurt for my breakfast.  

That's almond yogurt.

I added some goodies in it...here comes the crunchy. 




Here we have granola, chia seeds, and hemp seeds.  So, so crunchy.  I may as well roll around in some patchouli and rename myself Wilting Flower. But, it is so delicious! 



Chia seeds seem a lot like poppy seeds to me, as far as taste and texture go. They are packed with fiber, protein, minerals, omega-3, and antioxidants.  I've used them in some recipes where you soak overnight and they turn into more jelly like...that's totally a love or hate texture thing for people.  I like it, like little jell-o balls.  Some people just really don't like the texture though.

The granola is gluten free Udi's granola.  I like it for all the nuts and dried fruit in it.  

And finally, the hemp seeds are probably my favorite bit.  They taste like chopped up nuts with a real light flavor not as nutty as nuts.  (How's that for a great description?)  Really, the way I most describe them is "grassy"...but that just sounds weird, so I said nutty.  I really like the taste of them, and you can read more about the benefits on the link above.  They are full of protein, omega fatty acids, fiber, antioxidants and minerals. 

Life is Good...

This year has already handed me a few tough tasks.  I had an acquaintance say recently, God must really trust you to give you so many hard things.

Whaaaaaat?  I think we have different views of God.

I am an eternal optimist.  Even in the hardest of times, I find the silver lining.  Maybe it's a self preservation thing.  It helps me get through the rough bits in life to find the good.

This morning, I was thinking about one of the things that is making me sad right now, and the first thing that popped into my head was this...

This is the logo from the Life Is Good company.  I've seen their faded groovy t-shirts through the years, and have always smiled at their sunny disposition.  It's funny to me that I've never owned one!  I need to change that.  I may as well wear such a positive motto on my shirt.  

Life really is good.  I have far more things in life that make me happy, than the ones that make me sad.  I'll let the happy ones push me forward. 

A new year...

Hello 2013!

I haven't written here in quite a while.  The last part of the year just snuck up on me and here we are, a new year!

The new year always brings about talk of resolutions, and changing habits.  Max has taught me one thing, we don't make plans.   So, I try to make good habits for the new year.

This year, my intention is to live with a good attitude.  I think I already have a pretty optimistic look on life, but I still have my grumblings, and it seemed like lately, those grumblings were getting more and more.

I have noticed on social media sites, for some people, it is a place to just dump every little gripe that pops into their heads for the world to see.  I'm not sure what exactly they're looking for in putting that out to the internets.  It makes them look so sad, and angry, and grumpy!  I have one friend on facebook that seemed to be especially negative in their status updates lately that I have had to hide those statuses.

I'm a firm believer of what goes in, must come out...so fill your mind with good things, and good things will come out.  This includes our own thoughts.

Last week, I was especially grumpy about a cold shower.  I think I was the third in line for a shower and had just barely enough to rinse my hair.  I started grumping in my head and thinking of all the terrible things I would like to say to the water hogs before me, but instead, I turned it around to find the good.  I said instead, I'm thankful I can get clean, and my house is warm so when I get out I'm not going to stay cold.

Then today, Max's feeding pump was giving me problems.  There are few things that irk me more than that feeding pump not cooperating.  I started visualizing throwing it through a window.  Then stopped and said instead, I'm thankful we have a way to feed him.

So, it's my intention/resolution/new habit to try to become positive when the negative starts to creep up.

All Trades...

Throughout my life, people have offered ideas of what I should "be".  My earliest memories of being told what I should be were an artist, or a ballerina.  Or maybe I would be an actress, or Miss America.  I could be a teacher, or a mom and a wife.

As I grew up through my school years, I never had a strong sense of what I wanted to focus my lessons on.  I figured I would be a teacher of some sort, because I truly loved children and teaching.

I got married and we had Abbey, so I was then a wife and Nene, and worked in an office.  I still dabbled in art, and taught Abbey through the summers to keep her on track for when school started back in.

When Max came along, people have so many ideas and offerings of what I should do and be.

You should be a doctor.

You should be a nurse.

You should be a genetic counselor.

You should be a hospital administrator.

You should write a book.

You should start a clothing line for children with disabilities.

And since Abbey's living full-time with us, she has some ideas too.

You should open a restaurant.

You should write a cook-book.

You should be a teacher.


I should.........I could.........but I already am all these things.  I know all of these recommendations through my life have come from people seeing a quality in me.  And it makes me smile when I hear these suggestions.  But really, I'm so happy getting to do all of them at once.

One day, I may focus on one thing and do it.  But for now, I'm happy to be a Deana of All Trades.

Addie's Day...

Addie bug is staying over for a couple of days and we got to have big fun today!



Addie loved reading and listening to the same books Abbey loved when she was around the same age.  We had to pull out our original iBook computer to find a cd player in the house.  Good thing it still works, and it helped that it was Max's old one with Sesame Street stickers all over it!  It was funny to open it up and find all of Max's 5 year old tastes on there still.  I can't believe a computer from 2001 still works so great!

She woke me up bright and early wanting to watch shows, and play outside, and ring the neighbors chimes at 8:00am.  Aunty isn't so much a morning person, so I offered we blow bubbles if she didn't want to watch a cartoon.  She ate her breakfast, and played with bubbles, and watched her cartoon...that was hour 1.

Next was bath time, where George thought he should help by lapping up her delicious bubble bath water.  It was quite a juggling act to keep him out of her bath, but still in the bathroom with us so he didn't go downstairs to wake a still sleeping Max up.

After bath, it was beauty shop time, so I combed her lovely locks and curled them around my fingers.  Having had stick straight hair my whole life, I never get tired of seeing this little one's boingy hair!


Time for coloring while we I got Max up and his morning routine going.


Before we knew it, it was time for Max's speech therapy.  Addie kept herself busy on Abbey's computer playing games on pbskids.org, and Cbeebies , and finally ended up watching some Mickey Mouse videos from the 1930's on youtube...thank you youtube for always having a video for a four year old's ever changing want at the moment!

After therapy, Max and Addie drew pictures for each other.




We watched the Muppet Show, while I hurried with lunch and Addie loved Princess Piggy.  I kept telling her it's Miss Piggy, but she was not having it!  Princess Piggy it is!

Max's nurse came over for a respite visit, and Addie and I took off for the afternoon while Max got to enjoy some peace and quiet!

We first went to the park, where I was so busy pushing swings, and spinning merrygorounds for one that I didn't get a photo.  But, imagine it was very spinny, and very dizzy.

After we left there, I told her to close her eyes and rest while we drove to Whole Foods to get a sweetie.  Addie and I love our sweeties, and they are always special treats. She nodded off before we made it out of the parking lot, so I drove around for 30 minutes to let her sleep.

When I parked and turned off the car, she slumped down like this as she was waking up.  Funny that she kept in a good position all while I was driving, but as soon as the car stopped running she melted!


We went into Whole Foods and got a few groceries, and finally, the special treats...madeleines and flowers for Addie, and a juice box.  I got one of the madeleines for myself too...it was after-all a special sweetie day!



We ate our snacks in the car, then headed back to the house to unload the groceries and to pick Abbey up to go shopping.  Since she has to give a speech in class soon, she needs some dressy clothes, her least favorite type of clothing.

While Abbey was trying on, I let Addie try on whatever she wanted.  The store was empty, and I picked up after her.  But she was like a tornado going through trying everything on that sparkled!




And, it was the creepiest thing ever but she kept hugging all the manequins.


She would hold the men mannequin hands, and run her finger along the stomach or arm of the women mannequins, and then hug and kiss the children and baby mannequins.  I asked what on earth she was doing and she said in a little baby voice..."they're just so cute!"

Abbey found her outfit, and Addie got a treat too.

Pinky Pie gloves that she just had to wear, because she was soooo cold! (It was in the 80's)

We stopped to make wishes and throw pennies in the fountain.  Four pennies for Addie, because she's four.


She talked to her Mama and Papa, who are still in the hospital as Papa recovers from surgery.  She told them about her day, while she played outside in the rain.


She got an early dinner, and off to bed she went to listen to more books.  I let her pick 3 tonight.  And when I went up to turn the computer off, I found her sound asleep.

With a book on her face.


Tomorrow we'll get to play music therapy, and school with Max.  For now, I need to get to sleep since she's up and at'em with the sun!