Weeeee Wednesday

Today was quite the ride of busy excitement... We took the car to a repair man last week... He quoted us a carb and vac system repair to the tune for $450+... I don't know who has that kind of cash laying around these days but we aren't one of them... We said uh we will have to wait and just spend the 45 minutes it takes of fighting with the car to start it and keep it running then proceed to drive around town at the top speed of 10 MPH... I called to vent to my daddy about our auto woes... He suggested a repair... So, when my husband went for an oil change last Saturday he asked the oil change guy if that is something they do... He said if my husband bought the part he put it in for Free! God Bless T... So, my husband picked up the part and I took it to T yesterday and for less then $4.50 we have a 'brand new' car again! All it needed was a new fuel filter... Now we are going 110 MPH I like to tease... ::smirk:: It really does drive that fast but I haven't gone that fast in some time... I usually top out around 90-95 MPH at the highest on the empty interstate... ::grin:: I'm thinking what it is a blessing to not be wealthy at this point in the year because if we did have the money we could have blindly paid that repair man and still have a car that didn't run right... Thank you, God for blessing us and when we thought doors were being closed (unfairly) that other doors opened in the most unexpected places... Patience is definitely a virtue and proves that HE does always provide... We have grown with much Grace during this experience... So, I was able to go to our bi-annual meeting easily (now that the car is repaired) with the psych and the rest Engineer's behavior program team and special needs service coordinators... We caught the psych up on all that has happened since we enrolled Engineer in his program... It was a very good meeting and gives me at least some peace that we did make the right decision... I have struggled as any mother would with this decision... God is still holding me firmly yet gently in his hand during this very tough time... His behavior program can see why we use this psych for our medicine management... They were very impressed with his medicine philosophies (he wants him on as few and doses as small as possible and maybe even some day medicine free, not to mention his willingness to try 'natural' vs chemical treatments), his knowledge of Autism/latest available research as far as treatment/medication management and his passion for Engineer's care... He is the only person who has gave Engineer medication for his needs... He knows him (he's been seeing Engineer since he was 3/4 years old) and our family very well... It showed today in our meeting that we aren't just 'another patient'...He is truly an asset, a blessing and an advocate for him... Thank you, Dr. F... Peanut had ST... She is doing wonderful... We had religious education tonight... It was good to see all our friends again... I worried so much about making it to the various appointments this week because of our auto issues... Yet, again God carried us through and granted me the Grace I needed... I am truly a Blessed woman...

Thankful to be Blogging Again - Thursday

Things have been mostly good... Engineer is doing well (photos below)... The other children are doing well also... Linebacker has a bit of the sniffles but with the weather/season change that is expected...

Monkey and Peanut had well check ups... They are doing good... Peanut is on the small side (20s %) but healthy... Monkey is right on for the average (50s %)... Nothing too exciting... We declined the H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu vaccine...

We had some reworking of our finances but looks like we will make it financially with God's graces to our goal of February (tax refund)... God willing we might be better off then we have been in a long time... September to February is our hardest part of the year financially...

I'm looking forward to the holidays with much optimism... I praying for a different kind of holiday where we focus on the true meaning vs the societal/commercial views of the holiday...

I'm still working on my self improvement plan of taking care of myself... No more burning the candle at both ends...

Goal 1: Sleep 8-10 Hours a night with the rare exception of less...
Goal 2: Eat 3 meals and 1 snack at regular intervals not all in 1 hour in the late afternoon/evening...
Goal 3: Have 20 minutes of uninterrupted of alone time every day...
Goal 4: Take care of personal needs daily or every other day...
Goal 5: Remember I am a person and deserve all the above the same as anyone else in this family....

I will update and change the goals when goals are accomplished and well established as habits...

Engineer had a psych appointment and introduced his new staff to Dr. F... It went well... Dr. F. is excited to work with the staff and together as a team help Engineer...

I didn't do all I wanted today but the weather is icky... Rainy and very chilly... I think staying home was the best option... Hopefully I can squeeze my tasks into my already stuffed Friday tomorrow... I've been doing a ton of laundry... Fell a bit behind this week but picked up on other things like unloading, loading, and running the dishwasher by 8-9 PM instead of turning it on at 1-3 AM and heading off to bed... I loved to be quilting today but my sewing desk is in the perfect location and height to be a catch all... I cleaned it off today...

Before:

Sometimes when you are cleaning you should never ask yourself "I wonder what is behind X?" You may not like the answer.... LOL...

Behind:

Not too bad right? Could have been worse... See that brown paper bag? That's my brother's birthday present... Purchased 4th July weekend while we were at the Teddy Roosevelt National Park... His Birthday's the 8th of July... I'm mailing in a few days... Opps... At least I found it... I tore the house apart a few times in search of it and never found it... Now I know why... ::smirk::

After:

Like my new 'lamp'... Birthday present... Gives just a little bit more light on my working surface... There is a 'room' light but it casts shadows since it is a chandelier behind me...

Also, for my birthday I picked up this because I thought oh that's kind of neat... What do you think I should use it for? Leave me a note in my comments section... Thanks! (Size: 10-1/2" square)

Closed:

Open:

As promised recent PICS of Engineer:

Last Group Photo Taken:

Friends Friday

Boys were off to school... Peanut went to test to see if she qualifies for any services or not... I have a feeling with all her gains she won't be in ECSE this fall... That is a good thing because she will be able to spend a whole year with Mommy before starting Kindergarten... She has shown an interest in knitting so that will be our fun 'girl' project we are going to do this year... Once the cool weather comes we are going to quilt together if she shows an interest and maturity for such an activity... She finished all her early childhood testing except for a few things... She will do those when she meets with the speech therapist next week.. The teacher who tested her and the speech therapist both worked with her all year last year and they also worked with Engineer his first year of ECSE... So, they know us well... Today is our 5th Anniversary for our marriage convalidation... We didn't do anything exciting to celebrate it... We watched half of Forever Young... We do more on our civil anniversary (10 years this year) which will arrive in a few months... I dropped the bars off at a friends to be taken to the parish bake sale... We rested and picked Monkey up from school... On Friday's respite staff picks Engineer up directly from school... We walked from school to home to drop off things then walked to our friend's garage sale... We were there 2 hours... I found 2 dresses for Peanut and if we can switch the handle from our wagon to theirs we will have a new wagon too!!! I had planned on heading over to MN for Play Date at the Park but the van was acting funny so we stayed close to home... We walked back home and did 'mail'... Thank you to my friend (and blog reader) for the wonderful card... It was special to read it... ::smile, tear:: Yes, I will try to be as prompt as I can be with updates so you and all my readers know what is going on here... Remember my some times cryptic messages are because this is a public forum... Always feel free to email me for the decoded version... ::smirk:: We had our first Sloppy Joe dinner... We also had Alfredo broccoli noodles and steamed broccoli... All the children went to sleep without much fuss... Woo hoo! I walked 16 blocks (1.6 miles) yesterday... Go me!!! I transferred my chicken scratch menu planning into a printed version... I design the layout... I also now have a complete respite schedule till move in day that I also designed (layout for that too) and printed copies for every one... My program I usually use I can't find the disc to install it on this computer... I didn't like any of the 'free' ones I could download so I just designed my own 'form' to fill in, that's printable, in the word processing program...

Tasty Thursday

It's been a while since I shared a recipe and I will share two today to catch up... ::smirk:: First I will update on the days events... We had our monthly pow wow with all of Engineer's service providers... Those who are uninvited were there... When we shared our latest news about the placement you could see the winds were taken right out of their sails... Should be interesting if they continue to harass us as they have been... They are supposed to call to set up an appointment to finally go over paperwork that we should have been given a month ago... Hopefully they will crawl under the rock that they came out from under and leave us alone!!! We set up another meeting with the placement people to talk about who great Engineer is and all his likes... School will also be in attendance to talk about what structure supports they used to help his day run more smoothly... What an exciting time in his life... I picked the boys up from their 2nd day of school... They had another awesome day... TBTG!!! I didn't have staff tonight so I filled our night with the baking of 4-1/2 dozen bars (recipe below) for the Parish bake sale this weekend... I also made from scratch Sloppy Joes (recipe below) to have for dinner Friday and Saturday... I worked on a monthly menu plan... I worked out dinner for August 24th - October 4th... Isn't that awesome? I am trying out several new recipes and will be sharing them... All that's happening with Engineer we will have to make some changes around here... It's also part of my Burn Out repair program... I walked 8 blocks (0.8 miles) today.. It feels good to be walking again... Peanut had her 2nd speech therapy at the new time... It went very well... We will be adjusting the schedule next week due to appointments I can't move... I worked on Engineer's hat a bit... Almost ready to make the brim... Here are the recipes... ENJOY!!!

Caroline's Bars:

2 Eggs
2 C. Sugar (I use cane not beet)
2 C. Creamy Peanut Butter (PB)
1 t. Vanilla
1 bag of your choice of chips... I made one with PB and one with chocolate...

Combine the first 4 ingredients until well blended... Stir in gently the chips... Press into a 9x 13 pan evenly... Bake 20 minutes (watch so they don't burn on the edges) in a 350 degree oven... Cool completely... Cut into bars...

Approx 56 bars (if I cut the pan evenly ::smirk)

Sloppy Joes

2 lbs Hamburger browned, drained
1 Med-Lg Onion, coarsely chopped, sauteed in butter*
2-4 cloves Garlic, pressed*
1 C. Ketchup
3 T. Steak Sauce*
3 T. Brown Sugar
2 T. Mustard
2 T. Cider Vinegar

Place browned meat in crock pot... Add remaining ingredients and stir well till meat is well coated... Add 1/2 - 1 C. of water if needed... Cook on High 1-2 hours or low 2-4 hours... Serve 2-4 T. of Sloppy Joes on Buns with Cheese and Mustard (as desired)...

*Onion, Garlic depend on personally taste as to how much you put in...
* Steak Sauce - Recipe calls for Worcestershire Sauce which we never use so we use Steak Sauce (A1 or Generic)...

ENJOY!

Wee Ones Wednesday

Today was the first day of school... It went great... Everything was remember and on time for both the start and end of the day... Both boys had fabulous first days... I am very pleased... Engineer was picked up for his month psych appointment... It went well also... I cooked a nice breakfast for myself, my husband, peanut and linebacker... We had omelets with shredded cheddar cheese and grilled onions that were leftover from the kabobs when we had steak and a sausage patty... I brought in breakfast from the freezer for tomorrow and Friday... I caught up on the tons of laundry... I even hung out a load on the line to air dry... I need to go and bring that in when I'm done here... I also walked 12 blocks (or 1.2 miles) today... Woo hoo!!! I haven't walked in weeks... I hope to walk another 8 blocks (0.8 miles) tomorrow... Depending on how the meeting goes with the uninvited will probably have an effect on how much I accomplish tomorrow... Hopefully we can put the unwanted in their place... ::scowl:: Off to laundry, work on Engineer's hat and bed...

Frantic Friday

Today I had more then I care to have to do in one day... It started with a 3 hour visit to the ER because Linebacker had a fever of 103... They gave him a Tylenol suppository and sent us home (1:30 AM)... I chatted with my husband about what all we had to do tomorrow and finally fell asleep (2:00)...I woke up after only a few hours of sleep (8:00) to take Monkey to his last day of VBS (9:00) at the Cathedral... I stayed with him while we watched a picture slide show of the children that week participating in various activities... The parents then listened to the children sing a song... Off we ran to the next thing... We then arrived at home to take the van to the mechanic (10:00) to see if he could figure out what was going on with it... It as back home for just a bit then I packed their lunch to drop them off in the drop in child care while my husband and I went to an appointment... Again I was off an running (10:35)... I headed back home to pick up my husband to leave for our appointment (11:30)... We arrived at our appointment (11:50) and it went very well... Back to the mechanic (1:25 PM)... It wouldn't do what it was doing for us so we said we would take it to run errands and bring it back and hopefully it would do it's 'thing'... Picked up Monkey and Peanut {Linebacker stayed w/ us the whole time} (1:50)... Next we headed off to errands... We stopped at 4-5 different places... We went back to the mechanic (3:00)... The van did it's 'thing'... Mechanic dx the problem as the 'crank sensor'... Which since the "geniuses" who designed the thing put it in an awful place would cost us $200... We said ok and left it there to 'fix' itself so we could drive it back home (3:30)... We won't be repairing it for now and will just deal with this latest annoying 'quirk'... We unloaded and worked on dinner... We picked the van back up (5:25) and brought it home... My husband and Peanut went out to run errands while Monkey stayed home to help me out with Linebacker because I had a horrible sinus headache and at that point could barely see... When they came home it was baths (7:00) and all that jazz then off to bed (8:00)...

10th Day Of Christmas

I was up early and dropped my oldest off... I called the barber and she wasn't in yet... So, I ate some breakfast... I forgot to call the barber yesterday and Monkey seriously needs a hair cut... So, at 9 I called and she said well do you want morning or afternoon... I said how about morning and she said 9:30? I said that sounded great... We are only 3 blocks from the barber shop so I had plenty of time... I woke up the little ones... They had breakfast and off to the barber we went... Boy, did he need a hair cut! I knew he needed one but he needed needed one! He looks fabulous now... Next we went off to CCM... We talked today about improving our spiritual lives and the annual Baby Shower... We have it for all those who had a baby in the last year so I will be in on the next one because mine will be born after the shower... We headed home for lunch... Peanut had ST... We headed out to run errands... I picked up my oldest Rx and met my husband at the used book place... I found one book and headed home to pick up my oldest... We made a quick stop at the bank and headed downtown to drop off some paperwork... We relaxed at home and took a nap... My husband and Monkey were out running errands... Woke up from nap and ordered some Pizza... We usually order out on PayDay but it was New Year's Eve so we didn't... I headed out to the store.. We were out of milk again... LOL... I wish our fridge held more then 4 gallons... The baby said buy some pineapple and strawberries so I will be snacking on those tomorrow... He also wanted another White Tea with White Peach Extract... It was delicious!!! It is a brand called Inko's... At my store they only have the White Peach and Cherry Vanilla flavors I think...

9th Day of Christmas!

Today was a busy day... I was up early... Dropped my oldest off... Came home and readied the little ones and out the door we went... I'm 19 weeks today... Every thing is going great... The children enjoyed listening to the heartbeat... He was much easier to find today since he has grown quite a bit since my last visit... I go back at 24 weeks and have the delicious Glucose test then... Yummy Yum... NOT!!! LOL... I stopped at the PO drop box to mail bills... Next was a stop at the bank to deposit some money... I was off to State Farm to pay the Car Insurance... I made it home in time to drop the littles one off wake up my husband early and out the door to the dentist... Everything is looking good... I go back in April... I will have one more check up/cleaning before baby is born... My oldest was very disruptive in ST today... He did finally calm down but very little was accomplished... I found the appointments don't end when I thought... I was just given a paper today and it had 3 more appointments I didn't realize were so soon... So, I have a grand total of 3 dental, 2 Ultrasounds, 5 doctor appointments on 7 different days... 1 Dental and 1 Doctor's appointment down... 8 more to go on 6 different days! Let the fun begin!