so I had this idea

to make 25 new card sketches for World Cardmaking Day. And to make a sample for each sketch. It wasn't a problem when I thought of this in early August. If I just make a card each day... Now it's September 20 and the card sketches are done. However, I had no cards made as of this morning. But I am determined and today I got 5 cards done! And I like them. Now I just need to do 20 more and then photograph them all. I am thinking (hoping) that photographing will look better than scanning especially since I like to make them lumpy.

dog handling

I finished rereading Dog Handling by Clare Naylor. It was fun and a bit silly.

Liv is an accountant who is about to get married. She is having second thoughts and wonders if she has done enough exciting things in her life before she settles down. Before she gets the chance to do much about it, her fiance drops her. Luckily, her best friend who is a professional mistress is off to Australia with her keeper.

Liv is encouraged to go to Australia to get over her fiance and to do some exciting things. And she does including meeting again the boy who took her virginity when she was 16. Though he, Ben, is dating a beautiful rich girl, Amelia, he wants Liv.

Of course it can't be that easy and she messes up with Ben but learns that if she treats him like a dog, he will come back. Sure it works, until he learned about the tricks and is pissed. But Liv leaves a heart wrenching apology on a pizza flyer which Ben sees 6 weeks later and all is well.

Yeah, I know it isn't mind expanding but entertaining is OK too.

don't call me martha

I made shrimp salad. I love seafood salad but couldn't find one that I love and that didn't have all kinds of weird chemicals in them. I bought some frozen salad shrimp and looked for some recipes. I realized as I was reading them that it's basically like any meat/fish salad and you add mayo and whatever else floats your boat. I got some celery because I like a bit of a crunch but refuse to add fruit or nuts to my salads. Green onions are good for some crunch too but since onions cause some not so nice things to happen to my digestive system, I only cut up one. I added some dill but only a bit since I am still acquiring a taste for it. I skipped the lemon and lime juices. I don't really care for them on my fish and seafood.

I mixed it all up and it looked good so I made myself a wrap. I realized I added to much mayo and I probably should have drained the shrimp after it thawed. But it was tasty.

That was yesterday and I had another wrap today with the leftovers. But I didn't estimate very well and ended up putting too much on my wrap. I should have stopped when the salad was falling out of the sides as I was rolling it up. But then I didn't think there was enough for 2 sandwiches and I didn't want to be disappointed with a very thin wrap.

So I went ahead and ate it. And I made a mess. And still I could have stopped and scooped out the excess, put it back in a bowl but that seems rather gross even though I would be the only one eating it and the stuff in the middle hadn't been in my mouth. But I kept going until my hand were almost completely covered in mayo and shrimp juice with dill. Lovely.

green bags

9/9/08

I am trying out these Green Bags for keeping produce. I got them on Thursday and so far tomatoes seem to be doing well. But the bananas have done worse than if I left them alone and from what I have seen on the web, that is pretty much the consensus.

9/15/08

The bags are gone. I saw no difference in the cucumbers I had in my vegetable bin. Then I went to get a tomato and saw mold.

I'll go back to buying just what I need to use for the next 3-4 days.

i should have listened to my gut

Last Thursday while we were waiting for the bus, Andy was playing with his recorder. I thought about him losing it on the bus and showed him how to attach it to his backpack so it wouldn't slip out.

I looked at Ryan and thought about his watch. He can't wear it at school because it's a privilege which he has not earned so he takes it off when he is on the bus to school and put it back on when he is on his way home. I thought Ryan could attach his watch the same way Andy was securing his recorder. But I didn't think Ryan would take kindly to my suggestion and he has been good about kwwping track of it.

The bus comes that afternoon and as Ryan gets off the bus I can see he is upset. I see his arm and know the watch is missing. I ask the bus driver to keep and eye out for it and we go inside.

Before I can even say anything to Ryan, he explodes and screams. I sent him in for a time out to calm down. The problem is that Andy thinks he is in a time out as well.

Ryan calms down and we talk and I ask if he wants to go buy a new watch but of course that won't do. Nothing will help, it's the end of the world to him. I do ask for his backpack and find the watch inside. Then I show him how to attach the watch so he will know where it is. He is not happy with my suggestion and would have told me where to put it if he knew how. But he is much happier. Now I just need to spend time with Andy and calm him down.

almond butter or poop?

I kept reading about the benefits of almond butter and I love almonds so I thought I would try some. First off, it's not so easy to find and when you do find it, you are shocked by the price. :shock:

I finally opened it today to find it looking like diarrhea. Yes, I knew it would be separated but I couldn't get it really blend. There was still a lot of liquid and the rest was really sticky sludge.

I stuck in the fridge and may try again later. I will not be happy if I spent $10 for a small jar of poop.

school & home

I believe in separation of school and home. And so do the boys. Andy easts foods at school that he won't eat at home and vice versa. Ryan thinks that homework should be done at school. For a few years, that was possible as the work was easy enough and Ryan worked quickly enough to get it done. Last year, he had to start do homework at home. Mostly it was just spelling words that he could get done in 10-15 minutes and that was all the assignments for the week.

Fourth grade is a lot tougher. He has more assignments and they are longer. But getting him to understand that he should do a little each day just falls on deaf ears. I hate having to nag him. And I'm sure seeing Andy not doing any homework even though he is in the fifth grade doesn't help.

This week, he has forgotten his homework at school so he doesn't know what he is supposed to do. Next week, we will make a copy and leave it at home so he doesn't waste any days. At least he has remembered the vocabulary words (not called spelling words anymore) and we are practicing to spell them. Last week, I thought he knew the words and came home with a D on his test. (That is so hard to comprehend from someone who can only remember 2 Cs in all of her academic career.)

I know Ryan is smart but he doesn't care enough. And I hate to be a nag. My parents never asked or helped with homework. The only thing they had to signed were permission slips. I have to initial his planner even night so he can get a stamp. I think they went the other extreme as far as parental involvement. I already went to school and passed. Why do I feel like I am back? And why can't the schools seem to teach the kids what they need to learn?

I am already dreading February when I have to do another science fair project.

emotional

I remember when I first fell in love with Gail. I stopped crying. I used to cry way too easily; being teased, bad day, sad book or movie, hallmark commercials. But then those early days, my tears dried up. I could watch anything sad and never even felt my eyes get wet. I really liked feeling that. OK, I loved being in love.

These days, I am back to getting misty eyed at the weather report. OK, I am not that bad. And I don't cry at hallmark commercials only because I don't watch television. But give me a said book... I just finished reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons for the second time and had to wipe my eyes quite during the last third of the book.

And another thing! I don't remember the details of a book. So I can read the book and not have it spoiled though I tend to remember the major plot.

can't take a joke

Not that people with autism have no sense of humor, but unless they know it's a joke ahead of time, they think more literally.

Last night I was teasing Ryan. Somehow we got on the subject of him being "bad." I said he was going to grounded for 3 months. Then I amended it to being ground until 5 am and that he had to stay in bed. He started to get upset and I explained that being grounded or forced to do something you already do isn't a punishment. But he couldn't see it. I had to take back all my teasing before he would smile.

This makes me think back to when I was a child. I was ultra-sensitive to teasing. Did I not understand they were teasing? Of course, my family just thought I was a moody kid.

swizzle stick

This word just popped into my head this morning while waiting for the bus. I don't know why, I wasn't thinking about mixing a few drinks though a mimosa in the morning is always nice.

So I looked it up and found an entry in wikipedia. Is everything is wikipedia? Swizzle Stick was invented in 1933 as a way to get olives out of a martini without getting wet fingers. Necessity really is the mother of invention.

When most people think of swizzle sticks they probably have an image of those cheap plastic things most popular in the 60's and 70's. These days there are plenty of cool glass and acrylics ones and there is even a store called The Swizzle Stick Store. I know someone who would love those penguins but would never pay the price. (Hi Susan!) I think the mix sets would be more fun and might help people know whose glass belongs to whom. I have these fruit acrylic ones. I am not sure where I got them. Now I just need to have a party. (The set includes 12, 4 of each though I think I am missing one of the grapes.)

I should also note that I love google. When I googled swizzle stick, I found some cool sites, especially if you love drinking. Like this Giant Extremely Large Flask that holds 64 oz!