7 Plagues

1. I am in a foul mood because I'm currently in a contest of wills with Miranda who is refusing to chew and swallow the antibiotics prescribed by our pediatrician yesterday for her nasty ear infection. For her first dose before bed last night, she also refused, so we tried crushing it in applesauce and feeding it to her. She refused to swallow it. She kept it in her mouth for more than 10 minutes and finally spit it into a towel. Needless to say, she went to bed crying and I went to bed angry. This morning, I made the offer calmly, allowed her to have a cup of milk, and then forbade any other activities or food until she eats the medicine. Eventually, she'll get hungry or bored enough to eat the medicine. I am the original Strong Willed Child. I can outlast her.

Let's call this the plague of pestilence.

Alex was out of school 3 days last week for a nasty ear infection, and now she has done the same.

2. Miranda also has a nasty rash of red dots all over her body that look like tiny, broken blood vessels that disturbed our doctor enough to order a blood test for this afternoon. Taking my children for blood work is one of my favorite things in the world to do, NOT. From their perspective, I am holding them down so other people can torture them with needles. Fun, fun, fun.

Let's call this the plague of blood.

I was planning to follow the trip from the blood-draw with a trip to Friendly's, but not if she hasn't taken her antibiotics by then. Or may I'll go and get ice cream for just myself. And eat it in front of her.

3. The sale of the Super Beetle went smoothly on Saturday, thank God. Marshall spent 3 hours with the buyer, making sure he explained everything, turned over all the manuals, they took a long, celebratory drive together, the works. However, while this was happening, our refrigerator failed.

Let's call this the plague of darkness.

By the time he was done with the buyer, the children were in bed and I was completely spent. So, my darling husband tipped everything that could be frozen into the outside freezer, filled our cooler with ice and put all the milk products in that, and unplugged the fridge. He hoped, perhaps, it had iced over in some crucial places and a rapid defrost would solve the problem. Alas, no such luck.

So Sunday night, he went to Best Buy and ordered a new fridge to be delivered Wednesday. And we lived in the cooler until then.

The new fridge is beautiful and spacious and exactly what I wanted. And it fits aesthetically in the color scheme of the kitchen, which is what Marshall wanted. The children, however, are still adjusting to having the fridge compartment on top and the freezer on the bottom. We may have to move the string cheese to a lower shelf.

As soon as the delivery guys had moved it into place, Miranda "replaced" all the magnets. It doesn't usually look so cluttered.

4. In the midst of all the aforementioned excitement this week, I've been trying to plan for end of the school year gifts for all of the staff who work with my children, both at school and at church. And get all the end of the year stuff done for Youth Ministry. And help plan a double baby shower for two of the Youth Ministry Leaders. And Marshall's birthday is on the 7th, and I'm usually too busy to do anything nice so this year I wanted to do something nice so we have sitters coming tonight to play with the kids so we can go out and enjoy each other's company and a nice dinner together.

Let's call this the plague of flies.

I have too much to do without having Miranda underfoot for 3 days when she is supposed to be at school instead of fighting me about taking her medicine! (She came out of her room a few minutes ago, claiming she was ready to eat it. Nope. She was then ushered back to her room.) At least I managed to clean the house on Sunday and Monday, before all the new excitement started.

5. To comfort myself and try to keep my anxiety levels from hitting 11, I re-read The Red Pyramid and read for the first time The Throne of Fire and while I've been stitching in the evenings, I'm listening to The Lightning Thief. Nothing like juvenile fiction from Rick Riordan to take my mind off of my troubles. At least, for a little while.

Made some good progress on the cross stitch, so I'm not sure if this counts as another plague.

All finished, through page 14.

6. Okay, so maybe we haven't been struck by the 10 Plagues of Egypt, or even 7 of them, but the four I listed above have been seriously wearing me down. And I know my bad attitude is not helping matters at all. And I miss talking to my mother who is enjoying her long holiday in Ireland with my father and her sister. My mother is one of those people who can make things better even from a distance. Lord, have mercy on us.


7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


And here's Jen. 

Soggy Friday

1. It has not been the most fun week ever. It really has rained every day for the last 7 days. My plants outside are green and verdant but I feel all moldy and grungy. Both Alex and I spent most of the week feeling ill (he had a nasty ear infection that kept him out of school Monday-Wednesday and not sleeping well for the rest of it, which I am sure contributed to my general malaise). The house looks trashed and not like it was spotless and clean a week ago, so much so that I spent yesterday afternoon outside weeding, between rainstorms, just so I could be doing something useful without having to cope with the mess inside. I was all set to tackle it this morning when Alex woke up about 3 am and never went back to sleep, which meant I spent the morning while both children were at school trying to catch up on sleep instead of cleaning. Some days, it seems pointless to make plans when my circumstances and just going to swoop in and spoil everything. Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, whine!

2. The good thing about feeling generally blah but not awful is that you get a lot of stitching done:

3. My parents are enjoying an early 40th anniversary trip in Ireland and having a wonderful time, according to the few texts and Facebook posts they've sent. Of course, earlier in the week, when they were in Dublin, so was Queen Elizabeth II and they all wanted to go the same places at the same time. And she had more staff so she got right of way. Now they are driving leisurely about the countryside, stopping when something looks interesting. Waterford, Kilkenny and Cork so far. :)

4. So I was surfing around CafePress yesterday after doing some graduation gift shopping and found they have a huge collection of shirts for Autism families. These are some of my favorites:

• "I am raising a child with Autism. What's your superpower?"
• "If at first you don't succeed, perseverate"
• "Will de-escalate for deep pressure"
• "Sensory Processing Disorder just means I learn a little different. My cuteness is NOT affected!"
• "Autism Sucks"
• "Autism Airlines: Expecting Turbulence on Most Flights! Our flights might be rough, but they're necessary."

Can you just see the four of us approaching the security checkpoint at the Philadelphia Airport (in August for our trip to San Diego) wearing 4 of these shirts (I get the first one, Miranda the 4th, Marshall the 5th and the last one for Alex) all together? I expect we would scare off any but the most confident observers. Although any other parents of special needs kids would get a good laugh.

5. The new printer arrived this week, all fancy and beautiful. It faxes and scans as well, and works with our wifi network so it doesn't have to sit connected to the computer in Alex's room like the old one. Since we have spent most of our marriage making do with dinky or trash-picked or free printers, this is an unexpected luxury. It means I have left-over toner from the old one, though. If anyone needs HP cartridges #92 or 93, let me know.

6. Our beautiful 1972 VW Super Beetle is set to be sold on Sunday afternoon. Marshall assured me last night that since he began the grieving process 18 months ago, when he decided to sell it, he shouldn't be too grief-stricken at the actual event. He will wash and vacuum it tomorrow (the rain is supposed to be finally done by then, which is good because Miranda has her last soccer practice) and then sign over the title after church on Sunday. I'm just praying everything goes smoothly. 


7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


And here's Jen. 

Hazy Friday

1. Last weekend was so full of activities that I feel like I've gone through this week in a daze, my brain never quite waking up, no matter how much caffeine or sleep I feed it. Or maybe the scent of all my blooming irises wafting through the air are acting like a drug. They are seriously gorgeous:

You can see more of their beauty here. Also, so many of them have had more than 3 buds per stalk that I've had to cut them and bring them inside to keep them from falling over. A good problem to have, yes. I love my tulips, I love my callas, but these irises (new to the house in the last two years) are really moving up in my affections.

2. We did our back-to-back IEP meetings on Wednesday, and they went well, but I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Both children have excellent teachers and teams built around them (9 people each if you include all the aides and therapists and such) and made good progress this year. Both children are keeping their teachers for next year (Woohoo!), although Miranda will be in the afternoon class instead of the morning one, which will turn my schedule upside down, but I'm sure we can adjust. And the plans for next year look awesome and full of great new challenges.

It is an incredible blessing to have my children so well cared for in our school system. But it is still a grief that we carry that we expect to have yearly IEP meetings for the foreseeable future. I love my children but it is so hard to see them struggle in ways neurotypical children do not. Parenting is not for the faint of heart.

3. When I wasn't moping about being a special needs parent this week, I was stitching feverishly, which is how I finished page 13 and started 14, which should go quickly. I love getting to this point in the project when I can see the end and can't wait to get there!

I really love how the shadows on the vase are turning out; they're just a pain to stich.

4. Thor was a lot of fun! Although I liked Chris Hemsworth as our hero, I was more impressed by Tom Hiddleston (who I recognize from Wallander). His Loki was interesting and easy to be fascinated by. And Branagh did a great job, which I'm sure comes as a relief to him after working on a production as large as the population of some small countries.

After seeing the trailers before the movie started, Marshall wants to add Super 8 to our list. Man, it's going to be a busy summer!

5. Part of the reason for my haziness this week is that when he was out for a drive last Saturday in his beautiful 1972 VW SuperBeetle, Marshall encountered someone who had a friend who wanted to buy a car like ours. Now, we've been planning to sell it for a year and Marshall has been working on it in preparation for that event. This encounter, however, threw him into a flurry of activity so as to be ready to show the car to the prospective buyer last night. The meeting went well and if they can agree on a price, we will probably sell it in the next few days.

Here's our beauty:

However, this also meant the only time I really saw him this week was when he was with me in our IEP meetings Wednesday morning. I hate being husband-less. It really throws off my groove.

6. My parents leave tomorrow to spend almost two weeks in Ireland to celebrate (a little early) their 40th wedding anniversary. I hope they have an amazing time and take lots of cool pictures. And bring home a Guinness shirt for my husband. :)

7. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


Bonus 8. The woman who cleans my house came yesterday, so everything is wonderfully, sparkly clean. That's the way to start the weekend right!


And here's Jen. 

Happy Mother's Day to Me! (or, My Husband is Wonderful!)

This is what the bookshelves looked like at noon today:

And then Miranda and I spent about an hour moving books from the piles in the front room onto the shelves and now they look like this:

Don't they look fabulous?!

Now, this is only about half of the books we own (and by "we" I mean Marshall and I; this does not include the piles of children's books located in Alex's and Miranda's rooms), so there are still 3 bins full in the corner in the living room as well as a few smaller piles in our bedroom. Which, of course, is why he's building a matching set of shelves on the other side of the room. 

The books aren't in any fixed order, although I did manage to put all the Milton together and my Norton Anthologies, and Laura Ingalls Wilder is next to L.M. Montgomery and Janette Oke, as they should be, but everything else is shoved in according to size and space. Some of the most amusing titles hanging out together are these:

And these:

Percy Jackson next to Still Harping on Daughters is almost as amusing as St. Augustine next to Heinlein's Number of the Beast. We have wide tastes, as you can tell.

Compliment my husband the next time you see him. These shelves are gorgeous!

The Friday before Mother's Day, and I am living it up!

1. For example, I took a long, luxurious bath last night before the children were asleep! Or even really in bed! Miranda was officially ready for bed but had begun her regular half hour of whining before she falls asleep and I just left her in my husband's capable care.

2. I have been reading real books this week.

• On Sunday night, (with a stack of Borders' coupons) I bought myself a copy of The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh, who is continuing to write Lord Peter Wimsey stories, with the blessing of Dorothy Sayers' estate. And I stayed up until 1 am reading the whole thing!
• The new Rick Riordan book Throne of Fire arrived yesterday (because I'm a Borders' Rewards program member, they offered it to me on pre-order for more than 50% off, which is too hard to resist, especially when my library isn't able to buy new books like they used to) but I need to reread The Red Pyramid first so I'm not too confused. I did fine with the Percy Jackson books (which are awesome, by the way) because I am familiar with Greek mythology. Egyptian legends are a different matter and I'm going to need a refresher before I dive into the new book.
• I read another amazing book review by Walter Russel Mead about The Armada by Garrett Mattingly and had to order myself a copy. It came on Wednesday and I'm already 150 pages in. Mead is the one who turned me onto that massive tome on the Napoleaonic Wars I read last summer, War of Wars by Robert Harvey. Perhaps, if my life had gone in a different direction, I might have been a professional historian, because I find these kinds of books so much fun to read. Scary, I know.

3. I have been working outside a great deal, weeding and mowing and planning new plantings. In fact, when I told Miranda she couldn't help me in the garden on Monday because she didn't have gloves, she helpfully stole Alex's Halloween costume gloves and got "ready" to "help," wearing my hat, no less:

4. All of this explains why I am terribly behind on household chores and I think we've had one real dinner this week. Ah, well, I'll get all caught up by next week when my cleaning lady is scheduled to come through again, especially since....

5. Marshall is making so much progress on the bookshelves that I am planning to actually start shelving this weekend. Which would be wonderful since we have dispensed with all 6 of the bookshelves we are replacing with the built-in bookshelves to their new residences so my front room, instead of being crowded by furniture, now has stacks and stacks of books and photos and dvd's all over the floor. Nice, orderly stacks, but books need real shelves to live on and be rearranged on and be appreciated and drooled over. We love our books!

6. I finally made it to an easier portion of the cross stitch pattern this week so made some decent progress:

I'm starting to wonder, if I can keep up this pace, if I might have it finished in time to take with us on our California vacation in mid-August to present it in person to my sister-in-law, for whom I am stitching, and take it with her to the framer's so she can pick out the mattes and frame. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Still, it would be very convenient.

7. I did go to see Fast Five on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun! Happy, brainless movie with Vin and the Rock, and it made enough money last weekend that they are going to make another sequel. Woohoo! Also, our sitter is coming tomorrow at 5:30 so we can go see Thor, which is also opening to good reviews. I love the summer movie season!

Bonus 8. My mother's book, Bathsheba's Lament, continues to earn praises and recognition from among a growing number of readers. There is a great review of it on the International Christian Fiction Writers' blog that you must read! There is another awesome review of Bathsheba's Lament on LeAnne Hardy's blog. Read it here. Remember, if you haven't already ordered a copy, you will find it available here, or, if you are a local fan, you can purchase my last remaining copy of the book.


Extra Bonus 9. A few fun links I felt like sharing:

• May the Fourth Be With You which has posters of Star Wars puns. Very funny. 
• Existential Star Wars in French, from Jen Fulwiler's blog (see below).
• This is the shirt I want to buy (just not in pink!) to wear on the airplane when we travel to San Diego in August, all four of us together. We have not been on an airplane with both children since Miranda was 14 months old, for good reasons. But we miss our California family and decided to be brave this year. And take Valium. And pray, a lot.

And here's Jen.