Friday, December 31, 2010

It's gonna be a late night

Well, it might be. Theresa took a nap late today because she was rather cranky after she managed to hit her face on my headboard. Poor baby has a bruise on her cheek. She's awake now but she doesn't want to get up just yet. Oh well, if she wants to rest longer she can but I think she's about ready to get up. Well I guess she's ready to get up.

She's in a better mood than when she went to bed. Now to figure out what time you put a four year old to bed when she's taken a nap half the afternoon. Hubby cooked lunch for tomorrow already, a roast and we have one pork chop left from lunch today.

I bought a loaf of 12 grain bread for $1 today. It's good, I've got to shop at WRC more often. They have some pretty good prices on some things. I managed to get us most of what we'll need for the month for $30. I was happy with that, I'm not sure I'm happy with the shampoo that I bought though. OK I'll be going now I've got one more blog to update and I want to search Amazon.com to see what I'm using the next gift cards I get for.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

It's Thursday and starting to feel like Monday

It feels like Monday. I should of just kicked the freaking yankee out at Halloween and left him kicked out. The bank account he over drew closed today and now he's having a tantrum over the way I fry food. Idiotic moron. I do wish I'd never married either of my children's fathers. They're way to much trouble to raise.

On the other hand Theresa is doing great. She's the bright spot of my days, it's too bad I kept her father though. OK this is turning into a rant so I'll be going.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

The appointment that wasn't

Yesterday morning I got up at 5:30 to give myself time to have a cup of coffee, etc before I got Theresa up. Well, there wasn't any running water and a cat let himself in through the vent. I thought the pipes were frozen and hoped nothing would bust. Wrong. The pump had cut itself off in the night, nice and expensive to repair or replace since I have no idea how to do either. Well of course the morning went on, Theresa got up and dressed, pretended to eat breakfast etc.

Well, when we went to leave I realized I didn't have time to defrost the windows. So I'm out side in the cold without a coat while Theresa sits in the back seat as the truck warms up waiting on me to scrap the ice off my windows. I didn't do a very good job and I noticed that my windshield had a crack all the way across in front of the lower half on the drivers side now instead of just a little chip from where the rock flew up and hit it. Fast forward we leave and I get down the road a bit before I decide that I have to stop and clean the windshield some more because I can't see.

Well, windshield is clean and we're on our way. Until I start to smell something and realize smoke is coming in through the gear shift. So we pull into a parking lot and call home. Hubby calls the office we're going to and leaves a message with the answering service. About 15 minutes after we're supposed to be there the same office calls to see if we're on our way because they didn't see the message yet. Work that out and wait on hubby with feet freezing. He locks himself out of the house before he can come check on us. Lovely.

Finally we get home go and go through rescheduling before discovering that the woman we were supposed to see decides she can use someone else's results to draw her conclusions so we don't have to wait so long for the results. Now I'm trying to get rid of things that no longer fit, are broken and I just don't want to have less to do and save some money.

OK I've got articles in my head so I'm going to be going for now but I'll be back to update the other two blogs later today. Some antifreeze would have saved me a lot of headache, remember to check yours! 

Sunday, December 26, 2010

My little family is almost enough

I say almost because my oldest and his oldest don't live with us. It is just the two of us and Theresa, her sisters (one is almost grown) would complete the picture. I know both of them are miserable where they are. Well, not miserable but not as happy as they could be and that hurts.

I would love to move the three of us far away but that creates a problem. There is no way for us to be half way between the oldest two and visit either one of them we can't afford it. We live off less than $15,000 a year yet I don't understand reality according to those around me.

I'm still figuring out how to copy pages from Theresa's workbooks. I have to make my schedule for the New Year so that I spend as much time working as possible without taking time away from her. Well, I have one more blog to update so I'll be going for now.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas survived


Just a short post let everyone know how the holiday I dread the most is going so far. Well, there haven’t been any fatalities in the home so that’s a plus. Yes we’ve all survived this far. Theresa opened her gifts from us this morning, Christmas and birthday since she’ll have a total of at least three days opening presents tomorrow.

She loves the little dry erase/chalk board that Nanna got her and the one that stands up that we got her. Both are reusable and one travels for lessons or just occupying her on the road. She’s not ready to use the roll of paper just yet but that’s fine too that’ll give me time to figure out where to find another roll to replace it with. I think I’ll take the time to buy one or two rolls of wrapping paper on sale after the holidays even though I have three rolls left. I may just use gift bags next year, I have plenty of them.

She got two wooden puzzles with the pictures under them when she gets done I’m gonna preserve them and use them to decorate her room with. Or I may just use the tray the puzzle goes in and hang it up as a picture in her room. I know I want a jigsaw puzzle to preserve and hang as a picture as soon as I have somewhere to hang pictures again. Repairs have to be done first.

We’ll be starting the next year with a full therapy schedule and hopefully once in a while a day off for me. I plan to sit down and eat meals together at some point in 2011. I can’t focus so I’m going to odds and ends so that I can let my mind wander around.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

I've Almost Survived the Christmas Season!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve which means that the Christmas season is almost over and once again I have survived it! The rush for last minute presents for the spoiled,  precious children I have. The panic over not being sure what's age appropriate for my children that are far from typical. The 18th I did all my Christmas shopping and stood in nice long lines to spend money I didn't want to part with. Next year I vote that I have it all delivered to the house. My goal for this? I use Swagbucks.com to earn Swagbucks that I intend to use for gift cards to use at Amazon.com where I plan to order things that they need  want around the first of November 2011 to give me time to wrap them.

I think I'll make a list of therapy supplies toys through the year for Theresa so I can keep up with what I'm buying her next year. My first purchase next month is going to be an ink refill kit for my printer though. That way I can make copies of the workbook pages that she got this year so that she actually gets to use the pages.

We'll let Theresa open her Christmas presents in the morning and she'll open her presents from my mother Christmas Day. One present will be set aside for her to open on her birthday. You know Theresa doesn't seem to notice if she has a birthday party or not and I can't manage to organize one anymore so I think I'll wait until next year when I've had time to plan and brace myself. She had a first and second birthday party, just no third or fourth. She had a Christmas party at school and she'll have a Valentine's day party in February. I have to get something for the kids and the teacher this time. I didn't realize when the Christmas party was until the week of it.

OK Christmas is survived! I'm gone.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Interesting Day

Well, the day was interesting sort of. I did laundry, dishes, some vacuuming and felt awful all day. Theresa on the other hand felt great. She's just as hyper as she can be playing with all the things that nanna bought her for Christmas. She's only asked for a couple of shows today.

I've been so obsessed with figuring out work that I forgot my other half gets paid tomorrow. That'll help a little bit, figuring out when he gets paid again since they have two weeks off will help too. We have therapy this week and a re-evaluation next week which is rather irritating. We missed out Christmas party because we didn't feel well but we can't miss these appointments no matter how badly we feel.

I have to get the house straightened back up but I think that it's a losing battle.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Almost done with the Christmas shopping

Yesterday afternoon Theresa went to the clinic where she gets therapy from 1pm until 5pm so we could do the Christmas shopping. We got Theresa and my oldest their presents, the oldest of all three we have no idea what we are to get her. Theresa's birthday present was gotten too. Now to figure out what's for her birthday and what's Christmas. My oldest got a card for her birthday and we managed to find one thing so far we can give her for Christmas. She's rather difficult to buy for.

I'm worried she won't like it. She's always polite but I always get the feeling that she's not satisfied with her gifts. Without tags I'm trying to make sure I wrap her gift last so I can keep it away from Theresa's and grab it quickly when we go to take it to her. I managed to get all but Theresa's bubbles wrapped and I can't find a box to put them in. I could have sworn I had a bunch of boxes, I guess they'll go in a bag for her birthday along with the largest puzzle I bought her.

I have to vacuum the floor but I'm tired and it has to be cleaned up first. This is getting old. I made another bucket of laundry soap this morning with two bars of soap and it'll be ready tomorrow morning or the next day at the latest. I have a load of jeans to wash in the morning and dishes to wash now. OK I'm going to figure out what work I need to be doing.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

An afternoon off

It's almost 10:30 and I drop Theresa off at the clinic at 1 p.m. She'll be staying there until 5 at the latest. I may go get her earlier if I manage to get out of the crowded store with my few purchases in a short amount of time. Against my better judgement I'm taking my other half to the store since he's keeping my in-laws away from my house for the holidays. I'm not being hateful, they just have a tendency to irritate me butting in and offering advice when things are none of their business and they don't pay the bills.

I'm a bit irritated that I wasn't asked about my child leaving the house during the holiday. I'm so ill at this moment I do believe I'm going to make the rest of the year a living h*ll for everyone but me and my little angel.

Now my head hurts at the thought of my other half trying to get his parents not to do something that could undo the past year of therapy. Theresa is smarter than they are. I'm not being ugly, it's true she actually is. OK  this is turning into a rant so I'm going away now.

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's Monday Alright.

I can tell that it's Monday for sure. This morning started out easily enough as you know if you read odds and ends. I got my little one home from school when I picked her up early and she noticed the Christmas tree. Long story short, one bath, lunch and a few cartoons later she was nice and hyper.

I just realized a few minutes ago that I haven't put the blanket under her bed yet. I put a think sheet like blanket under it for the time being. It helps to keep it from being as cold in her room where she sleeps. Tomorrow at some point I need to move her crib closer to the heating vent, rearrange the rest of her furniture and make sure that I drag the carpet out of the back bedroom closet.

OK that got me to thinking that I needed to go pull that carpet out since she's been sick and it's cold as well a frozen over you know where. Sure enough the carpet has stuff piled on top of it, not sure why and the closet is freezing......like you could store meat in it. Well, I noticed a comforter on the top shelf in there. I pulled the comforter down, it was freezing cold too and folded it up then shoved it under the end of her bed she was sleeping on. Now watch when I go to move her bed closer to the heating vent and the warmer part of the house it'll need tightening again. I have to leave the bathroom door open at night so that the heat is evenly distributed. If you leave the door closed you suffocate in there.

I had a cat in the duct work this morning so I went to hunt down a screwdriver and let him out. By the time I got the blame vent cover off the cat was no where to be found. I did notice however that I felt a nice little draft from that vent. Well........DUH! There was a cat in it, it had to be down somewhere for him to get into it. I'm looking into alternatives to heating and cooling, hopefully they don't include having someone come run new duct work. We can't afford to have the skirting put back up to keep things out from under this place.

OK that's about it so I'm going away now. Ron White is on and he's making me forget what I'm thinking about.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

I thought the weekends were for resting

Yes in all my naivety I once thought that the weekends were for resting. Boy was I wrong. My weekends are filled with working and trying to clean the house. I say trying to clean because well my youngest turns 4 the 27th of this month and she's a little disaster area all her own. Never mind the fact that she throws away random papers and other items as she sees fits for puts the dirty clothes in the basket. She's a kid which means that unless she's sure she's tired of a toy it's in the middle of the floor instead of in the toy box which means that before the vacuum can be run there is an hour of picking up toys and tiny cards from the floor.

The laundry never feels as if it's caught up during the winter. The dryer doesn't work and it's too cold to stand outside and hope the tiny bit of sun we get will dry them. So a load at a time hung out in the back until I can find some line to hang a second line. The shirts are easy, they can go on hangers in the shower we don't use and on the door knobs to dry. The jeans get thrown over the futon frame as do the towels. Lighter items get put on my line or own clip hangers.

I think sometimes I fall behind because I'm determined to make a living from home. It's strange as my bills keep increasing while my income keeps falling. Lately I'm being help hostage by cartoons which is a bit aggravating but at least the kid is talking.

This post has taken a turn so that I no longer remember what the point is so I'll call it a day.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Held hostage by cartoons

Other than my morning trip to pick up a few groceries I was held hostage by cartoons the majority of the day thanks to my 3 soon to be 4 year old. We spent the first three years of her life in virtual silence except for the screams and tantrums that she developed so now when she asked for something it's rather difficult to tell her no.

The result? I often spend my days with Scooby Doo, Caillou, Dora and Arthur. She's learned how to give me the remote and make me push the button to bring up the "On Demand" menu. I just with there was some way to get that menu without having to pay for the rest of the channels that get neglected the majority of the time.

I have approximately $30 more than I thought I would for the upcoming holiday! I wasn't expecting to make enough to request the payout for the 15th but I've gotten it in ad revenue. That's good because I've manged one article since all the stress began. I managed to do a load of laundry and put another one in soak in addition to doing the dishes today. I also found all but one of the income proofs I need. I have a copy of my 2009 tax return, she asked for 2010 but unless she's got a time machine I can't get those to her before 2011 since they haven't been filed yet. I found the last two check stubs for hubby and he picked up the letter detailing this pay stub so I can send it where his check stubs normally go. Now to find the address and phone number for the Crawford County D.A. so they can call and get them to fax what they need because I have no clue what in the world they're talking about. I think it's a letter but it's not the letter they think they need as it doesn't exist due to circumstances.

I managed to get some of the baby's crumpled papers out of the floor. Unfortunately it's still not clear enough to vacuum and my back hurts. On the other side of my day, I had yet another fight with hubby for pointing out that his father is a jackass' ass. I'm sorry but I have a tendency to point out the obvious.

Well, insults and rants aren't supposed to be the point here so I'm calling it a night.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

End of the week came early!

Well, it's Thursday night and we're done with therapy for the week! The speech therapist has to go for CEU's tomorrow. That half hour is the only appointment we would have had so instead we're going to the grocery store in the morning to stock up through the weekend. It'll be the first of next week before we go to the grocery store for the month.

Theresa felt better today, still not a hundred percent but she was hyper and talkative. She had a tummy issue today that seems to have fixed itself. That's a good thing. She was happy as could be with her chocolate goldfish, cheeseburger and french fries. Now she's in bed without an argument since she's was tired.

At the moment I'm watching the "Dukes of Hazzard" since my regular shows at this time aren't coming on this week. I just realized that I have never seen the one where Coy and Vance come to Hazzard county. Oh, well.

I've got to do some dishes, one more blog posting and find a few things to make copies of in the morning. I also have to make a phone call to get a copy of the letter where child support was in arrears. OK time to go to work.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Fluid on the Ear

Well Theresa got a bath when she got up this morning because her pull-up leaked in the night. She fussed before she got in the bath and wasn't very active before school. I sent her to school anyway thinking that she may have been a bit sleepy. Then about an hour before school let out I got a surprise. I was on FB and one of my friends that was at a hospital across town put up that it was snowing in her status. I was thinking I was crazy or drunk one but no she definitely said snowing.

I got up to look out my windows just in time to see the first flakes begin to fall lightly, then harder until it gave the appearance of rain looking out through the windows. It got heavy enough that I called to cancel our regular speech session out of fear that it would continue to melt then refreeze as it hit the ground. I'm Southern, I don't do cold weather and I really don't do snow. Eventually the snow stopped but it was still getting colder and colder. So I made the right choice just not for the reason that I thought.

Theresa didn't feel any better when she got off of the school bus; it was late dropping her off by the time we got in the house it would have been time to leave. She still wasn't as hyper as usual and she was a bit whiny. So I waited until the doctor's office reopened for lunch and called to see if Dr. Ashley had an appointment open today or if we would have to do walk-in. He had one at 3:15, we still have to wait a while because he was behind. Well, there was nothing to indicate she was sick except her behavior so he checked her throat and her ears. One ear had fluid on it that could develop into an infection. So he wrote her an antibiotic prescription.

I dropped her off at home picked up her antibiotic and got her juice that her daddy forgot to buy. Well, that's about it. She's watching cartoons until bedtime now because she doesn't feel like herself just yet and I said she could. She's being good and there's nothing wrong with catering to them when they're sick. OK I'm going, I'm going I can feel the shoves so I'll take a hint.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Jumping on the furniture

This morning Theresa was so hyper that she was standing on top of her little Clifford table and jumping off of it to the couch. It didn't help that she was excited about her cartoons. Every time they did something she tried to do it too. She's something else I'm telling you. She had a stubborn moment before we left therapy and tried to stay in the office grabbing whatever she wanted.

I didn't get any work done today but she did make an awful lot of request for her shows by name. We had a $5 pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars for supper. Theresa knew what it was and said "ummmmmmmm pizza" which for her is incredible in the expressive speech department. She did great during therapy though. They used connect four and she worked to get the checkers to put into it.

She wasn't feeling well today. I think her little stomach hurt but she can't express it. She can only pout and lay down quietly when she feels bad. That's how we now. Tomorrow is a school day so she'll act like she feels good even if she doesn't. That's the highlight of her day two days a week.

OK not much else to say so I'll be going for now.

Monday, December 6, 2010

I need a nap

While I would love to lay down and go to sleep for the night Theresa is acting as if she just had a pot of coffee. She's a bit hyper still and it's been a few hours since our afternoon therapy session. She's also been wearing the crown she found in a box of toys donated to the clinic since her session. The therapist didn't want to take it away from her so she asked if Theresa could just keep it. That was nice of her, she doesn't like upsetting Theresa if she can avoid it.

Of course the child has been walking around like a princess long before she ever found the crown. I once had a trained therapist tell me that Theresa's looks were going to get her way to far in life. Those big blue eyes are kind of hard to resist I must admit. The child didn't talk for the first three years of her life so she's a bit spoiled and used to getting what she wants without saying a word because of it.

Of course this afternoon she's been a bit talkative. She's been counting, pretending to read, doing the hokie pokie (however you spell that) and asking for Caillou. Once she asked for "Scooby Doo" today and I was glad for the break from Caillou even though I've seen all those episodes a few hundred times. Today was a school day so her cartoons were limited to one before school, one after school and a couple after therapy. She wanted to run around the clinic today but she actually said "Spectrum" when we pulled up today.

I waited what seemed like forever (3 years to be exact) for her to talk and now they're days when I wonder if I shouldn't have been more careful what I wished for. Her expressive speech is still massively delayed and she has trouble finding the words at times but she'll 4 the 27th and she's come so far I can hardly believe it.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Pancakes and Santa Claus

Today's Saturday which is usually one of those lazy days spent catching up on housework once everyone finally decides to get up. Not this morning though. My alarm was set for 5:30 this morning. Why? We were going to O'Charley's for a Pancake Breakfast and to have pictures with Santa Claus.

I did a few things like drink my coffee, check facebook and my earnings before we left. We managed to get there a few minutes ahead of time and waited with the others. Then they told us that we could sit in the little waiting area until they were ready. The tickets are normally $15 a person because it benefits the local Autism center. They had three that were donated and we got those those. I was hesitant about taking them but now I'm glad that we did.

We had pancakes, sausage, and coffee. Pink lemonaide for the little one. She ate most of the three pancakes and all of her sausage. Before we ever got our plates I took her down to see if she'd sit in Santa's lap. She wasn't sure about it but my little angel did it and looked adorable while the pictures were taken.

Friday, December 3, 2010

weekend started already

This morning we had our first Friday with just one half hour speech session! Theresa was with the group for a few minutes but she wasn't really participating. She did however answer a question in the playroom and she even worked on pronouncing my oldest daughter's name. She was inserting a K into the middle that doesn't exist when you say Jasmine.

Well, I'm exhausted because of work issues so I'll end this now. Tomorrow afternoon I hope to be able to tell everyone what a good time we had at Pancake Breakfast benefit for the local clinic.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

What did I do today?

Well, I wrote an article and included the picture you see here. It's a bar of laundry soap that I happen to like a great deal. It's about a dollar and works to wash dishes, wall, the stove top, hand wash delicates and it just smells good. I also included a picture of some laundry in front of the washing machine for the purpose of the article that I wrote. Yes, the soap is in a plastic container. That's how it's stored to keep it from getting wet, I cut slivers off of it when I use it. I also uploaded some pictures of clouds to sidetick.
This picture was taken through the window and there are a few more but this is the one that's easiest to see just how bright it was for such a cloudy, cold and rainy day. I uploaded this set of cloud pictures to Sidetick so that I could earn from the views to the album. Lately when I get bored I just snap pictures of anything and everything. I'd love more pictures of the baby but she refuses to stand still and I end up with a nice blur to show off. Well, it's time to update the rest of the blogs so I'll be going.

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