A Time To Reflect...

...on things like snot, fevers, regressive toilet training, parents, and of course...turkeys.

Yes, it has been nearly one month since I last posted.  Where has the time gone?  I have noticed that many of the blogs I follow are also a bit sparse in their posts.  Is it just the holiday season that makes us deviate from our norm, or are you all, like me, dealing with back to back...to back...illnesses and various other craptities, (wow, that word didn't get corrected-hmmm?), and haven't had the brain power to come up with sentences that make a lick of sense to anyone but yourself?

The other half traveled for business the better part of three weeks, during which time M, and subsequently I, came down with strep. Yippee. That ailment never seemed to really right itself and turned into a virus-y, cold thing that all four of us got. Just when I thought we were on the mend, my parents came to visit from Texas and my Dad was quite ill with a bad sinus/upper respiratory infection. We spent Thanksgiving morning at the local ER to fix him up.

I had to get Dad better because that weekend the other half and I had 48 hours of respite during which we drove south to Paso Robles and the Justin vineyard & winery. We stayed in a lovely room there where we felt comfortable enough to not do much of anything.

We took an inadvertently off-road drive in the Prius to the fabulous little town of Cambria.
And out of the 160 wineries in this region, we only tasted at two, Treana and Oso Libre. We went back to our little villa and had in-room massages and then promptly put on pjs, ordered pizza, and fell asleep by 10 pm. It wasn't the romantic, reconnecting trip I'd hoped for, but who feels romantic when they can barely hear for the snot filling up their sinus passages? And I brought flannel jammies, so the other half had to know right off the bat it wasn't going to be that kind of vacation. Ha! But it was really and truly an absolute luxury to sit around in those flannel jammies and read a really good book without little people constantly asking for my attention. Just what the doctor ordered, I'd say!

So now we are one week back from our trip and three of us are still (again?) sick. We are running quite the racket on doctor visit and prescription co-pays.

And M had a rough week at school which should have been our biggest clue that he'd end up with a raging fever last night. But we're hanging in there regardless and plan on making an attempt at some Christmas cheer today.

Here's hoping you and yours are surviving the holidays and all of the germs that seem to come with them!

I've Lost My Funny

I've realized, as of late, that I've lost the edge to my writing. The ability to think of and then type out funny sorts of things. It's sort of like Dewey Cox in 'Walk Hard' when he says to his mother, 'Mama, I've gone smell blind!' I have apparently gone 'funny blind.'

Not funny, is it?

See?

We had a pleasant Thanksgiving here. It was just the four of us, which was kind of nice. I tried out several new recipes that were adjusted with rice milk, soy-based margarine and rice flour so as to make them gluten-free/casein-free. All in all, it turned out just fine, even though the thought of not using gobs of real butter was a bit appalling to this southern girl. The one thing that will not be repeated next year was the gfcf version of pumpkin pie. Its crust was made from gluten-free, honey corn flakes, and its filling (which the recipe warned would not solidify in the typical manner) was made with rice milk, instant hot rice cereal (for added texture) and then the other typical pumpkin pie ingredients. While it didn't taste bad per se, it was not the same as the good ol' pumpkin pie recipe on the back of the Libby's can of pumpkin. And the best part? M would not go near it with a 10-foot pole! B was happy to devour it, but I figure it was his first real Thanksgiving where his mouth was mature enough to eat such a thing...so what does he know?

We took both of the boys to get (much-needed) haircuts yesterday. I insisted this time upon going to the place that costs more money because they don't screw up their hair the way I, or the awful place I went to locally, do. I am proud to say that both boys are handsomely coiffed, and B doesn't have the giant rat's nest in the back that he has so popularly been sporting. Our plan after that was to take the kids to see Madagascar 2. We had quite a bit of time to kill, so we stopped off at Central Park in San Mateo. I highly recommend this park to anyone in the area. It is fantastic! We headed off to the theater with 30 minutes to spare before the movie started and yet it was still sold out. And so we ventured to another theater where it was again, sold out. This is not the first time I have had this problem when trying to take one of the kids to a movie. I usually purchase tickets online because of this, though we were still high on a bit of that turkey tryptophan clearly, and totally forgot. For any parent, this sort of disappointment is a big deal; but to a parent of a child with autism? Well...fuggeddabout it! M was beside himself, and there just aren't words available that can appropriately explain that sort of situation. Fortunately we were right by the zoo and made a quick left and were at another source of animal-filled entertainment. We were forgiven! Although poor B just wanted to see the elephants (last part rhymes with 'pants') and wouldn't you know, our zoo doesn't have any!

Wow...can you believe it's only Saturday? Just think of all the wondrous things I'll have to report back to you by Monday! I know...I can hardly wait either.

Bad Parents Of The Year Award

Yep...we've earned it this year. We didn't take our children trick or treating. Shhh!! Don't tell anyone!

I bought M a Lightning McQueen costume, and B a Tow Mater costume. Even though I have had no problems putting costumes on the boys in years past, for some brilliant reason I thought that they would like these 3-d costumes that just slip on over your regular clothes a lot better. Not so, my friends! (does anyone else get creeped out now by someone calling them 'my friends?')
M would have no part of his costume at the school parade yesterday and ended up parading around the schoolyard instead in a kitten-ear headband his aide put on him. She actually offered to lend us the furry vest and tail to go with it. She has not met my other half apparently, and learned of a.) his dislike for cats, and b.) his thought that dressing your male child up as a kitty cat would make him look...how should we say it...gay?

And B was obsessed with both he and M's costumes, but only from a I-want-to-carry-them-with-me-everywhere-or-else-I-will-scream-VERY-loudly point of view. Probably four times yesterday he would bring one of the costumes to me and say 'wear.' And no sooner would I slip it over his shoulders and he'd be screaming his little head off to get the damned thing off. Ahhh...good memories.

Aside from all that, the weather was crap. It had turned cold, windy and rainy here. When you have one child who isn't even two years old, and another who's on a restricted diet and can't eat most of the candy anyway...and you pair that with lame costumes that neither one wants to wear...you get: A night at home where Mom makes a big pot of chili (and drinks a few big glasses of wine) and the whole family stays up late watching The Incredibles together instead. All in all, I'd say it was a pretty successful Halloween as long as the kids' future therapists don't try regression therapy on them.

And with that, I will leave you with a photo of a Halloween of the past. Yeah, I was still working on a little bit of that baby weight, but this is my proof that my kids actually have participated in a Halloween celebration before.