Man, I Miss My Brain

1. I am currently experiencing what my mother-in-law calls and out of body experience: my head feels like it's floating somewhere above my body. Yesterday, I started having a scratchy throat and today I may have a cold trying to settle into my head. So I am drinking mandarin orange green tea (the only flavor of green tea I can stomach) and as soon as Miranda goes to school, I'm going back to bed. I haven't been sick for months and, well, no one can stay completely healthy indefinitely.

2. Yesterday, I started the day by taking Alex to the dentist which was an expectedly unpleasant experience for both of us. The bad news is, he has a cavity so we've been referred to a specialist who can knock him out to proceed with dental work. Ugh. This is just one of those times when living with autism sucks. Miranda's turn is next week. And, yes, there will be Valium for everyone beforehand, as prescribed by our family doctor. He's really wonderful about that.

3. My mother returned safely from California on Monday and it is really wonderful to have her back. My father returned from Madison last night after a week away so we will be all together again tomorrow to celebrate the birthday of a good friend.

4. Alex's 100th day of school vest turned out pretty good, mostly thanks to my husband for cutting it out and my mother for recommending that I go out and buy lots of stickers.

He cut out Angry Birds pictures and glued them on, then we added Toy Story, Dr. Seuss and Cars stickers, all the while advertising for Trader Joe's. We don't have many plain paper bags around here; they get almost instantly recycled.

5. Valentines Day came and went happily. Both children took their piles of cards to school, 39 for Alex and 27 for Miranda, and came home with even larger piles. One of my Bible study friends suggested Wednesday morning that we try to get all the other parents at school, instead of sending home candy or pencils or stickers, to spend that money on something worthwhile, like this. I'm with her; most of the candy that came into the house went straight into the trash. The pencils are useful as long as we can hide them from Alex (he likes to chew the erasers and generally ruins the whole thing). And I am not a big fan of stickers unless used for a specific project, like Alex's vest pictured above. Maybe next year....

6. Wednesday was a grumpy day for me, so I spent my time laughing hysterically (to such an extent Marshall refused to be in the same room as me) on this site, which was new to me. The content is usually foul and profane and very, very funny.

7. Sunday afternoon my HS small group is meeting to go see The Vow and then go for frozen yogurt. Not my movie of choice, but it should be fun to see it with a gaggle of girls. At least, Channing Tatum is nice to look at.

And here's Hallie. Jen is back next week!