Ruby Tuesday and Cats on Tuesday

Cats on Tuesday!

No dipsticks here! [*]

Please scroll down for Magic Marker Monday



We move relentlessly forward with the food campaign for the neophobic, the eater of 15 foods.

Currently my son enjoys a slime free diet, where slime equates to anything that could remotely be described as 'semi liquid.' In an attempt to push out the boundaries we offer ketchup, Thousand Island dressing and any other number of condiments for him to dip his Goldfish Crackers. We, on the other hand, truly enjoy guacamole, hummus and Salsa with warm pitta pocket strips.

The groans of agony from the end of the table increase in volume. I make direct inquiries:
“Is it the stink of your dips or the stink of our dips that’s upsetting you dear?”
“Evey fing is stink!”

Fair enough, I just needed a little clarification.

The family offer helpful suggestions;
“Why dontcha make em swim in dah blood one!”
“Howabout you try the mayonnaise, that doesn’t taste of anything anyways.”
“You know dey will slip down much more easily with a little grease. Look at your ribs! You need a little grease.”
“Here try a pretzel stick instead, then you won’t have to worry about your finger tips getting mucky.” He takes the proffered stick gingerly, a bit like a magic wand. He looks from stick to dip, from dip to stick and then back to us, a collective group of torturers.
“Wot I am doing wiv dis stick?”
“Stick it in the dip. Poke it. Put one end in the…..little bowl.”
“Stick is being too dangerous for me,” he wheedles, following a well furrowed path. I turn to his dad, “do you know, maybe we’re going about this the wrong way?”
“Tell me something we don’t already know.” I nip back into the house to snatch some tired old forgotten Brandy Snaps and some Maple syrup. “Here you go. How about we try something sweet instead?”
“Wot! Wot are doz fings? I am not be eating dah food wiv dah holes!” His outrage seems genuine enough.
“Curly pretzels have holes. You’ve eaten holes before!” I plead. My husband looks at me and blinks, but remains silent.

I sit back down. We don’t ignore him as such but we do not perseverate upon him. Well done us! Fortunately, like most parents, I am able to see without actually looking, through half shut lids and lashes. He dances a tentative waltz, a sniff, a poke, a little bat just to check that it’s not going to fight back, a tongue tickle, a shudder, another attempt, more of a lick, a wince and a shudder, and then finally a bite. The bite is followed by gagging and neck clutching, then mastication, a few escaped crumbs but approximately 55% of the mouthful is swallowed.

Yeah!

I say nothing with a face of stone. My face of stone turns to a Medusa head to warn his father to remain oblivious.

I wait for him because I want him to own it.

I wait until the third mouthful.

“Hey Mom!”
“Yes dear.”
“I am be….eated it.”
“Yeah for you! What a brave mouth. See you can eat sticks after all!”
“Er…..no…….I am not be eat sticks……..I am be eat holey snaps.”

[*] dipstick = foolish person, “slang” from "Only Fools and Horses."

Remember at this time of year Californians, that paper "STAR"s are not a true reflection of our little twinklers.

Magic Marker Monday

Apologies for the blurry picture, the camera was on the wrong setting. [I wonder who fiddled with that?]

Anyway, I just wanted to mention that both my sons are logical thinkers. Numbers and sequences of numbers help in just about every situation:- first we do this and then we do that. It is by no means fool proof but a concrete message is far more effective than a lot of surplus words. There is something about expectations in black and white, or rather blue and white in this case, that helps smooth over many of their worries and concerns.




Of course a visual timer as an accompaniment also helps them understand that the end is near in sight, which in turn reduces their anxiety, which in turn makes them more capable of concentrating on the task at hand.

A Recent Jolly Good Comment

Please scroll down for photohunters and SOOC

I meant to post this last week, but time ran away with me.

I still struggle to juggle, hence 'comment of the week award.'

Sad to say that Ricky has had to go as he was crashing everyone's computer. [some kind of bug] Hence this rather dull replacement. I shall try and spend some time removing Ricky's bugs from all my sites. Humble Apologies

<a href="http://whittereronautism.com/"><img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q158/mmcewen/Recipes-1-1.jpg" /></a>

[Inspired by "Scribbit."]

This week it goes to "Jade" from "The Mixed up Thoughts of a Jaded soul" for her comment [on the old blog = when will she ever learn!] on the "Photo Friday" post which for some reason best known to someone that I do not know, accidentally became posted on Wednesday! Oopsie.

She says that the baby-rattle-whistle:-

'It could also be used as a spouse repellent! LOL blow it and shake it enough and they'll keep their distance! hehehe'

and somehow that just tickled my funny bone!

Poor spouse!







Meanwhile, you could always nip along to "Trixie" on her post "here" to make her feel truly ancient. Just say something in the comments box to the effect of 'many happy returns of the day oh ancient one,' she'll never know it was you.

Go on, you'd be doing her a favour, or possibly me?

SOOC 2 Who needs fins?

This is from "Melody" at "Slurping Life" and refers to 'Straight out of the Camera'

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If swimming is really that tough!






Maybe you need some protection?








$1.99 end of season at Target!






Cheers dears

Saturday Photo Hunters - Wild

PhotoHunt


Brought to you via "TNChick."

Red Cardinal Climber on candle holder.

Too much Miracle Grow I suspect!

Comment of the Week Award

A blogless, but otherwise highly intelligent person, emailed me this week to point out that not only was I muddling one week with another, but additionally, I was muddling one blog with several others. I plead guilty on both counts. However, it did prompt another stunningly brilliant idea! Why not give the award on each blog? Far less confusing, well for me at least.


Hence this post is repeated on "alien" and "Sandwich" but with different awardees.

{Don't want you to have to wade through this more than once, just skip to the end.}

Another brilliant person "mit blog" castigated me [in the nicest possible way!] for my neglect of the "Hub," which once again I need to ‘fes up to,’ as we Americans are wont to say. I’m lucky if I mange to read through the first two or three postings in the list and since my intelligence quotient is at an all time low, I rarely comment either. Ooo the irony.

Since I am now on a confessional streak, I would also admit that I have spent time on the "photo blogs" for several reasons. Firstly I like "piccies." I am a very visual person.

Secondly, it is far easier to choose a "picture" and post it, than it is to write intelligently. Whilst I continue to take daily notes on our doings, it is hard work to channel that material into something worth reading. There again, if your enjoy reading schedules and lists who am I to criticize. Just think of it as my attempt at quality control.

The photo blogs also have the advantage of a thoroughly international flavour. This means that I can convince myself that instead of embalming my brain, I am really learning to be a linguist. This is sure to come in handy in the future when I travel round the world. I shall be able to say ‘post comment, email, URL, spam filter, preview and post,’ in every language in the world.

In my defense, all I can say is that I promise to try to do better soonishly.



I still struggle to juggle!

<a href="http://whittereronautism.com/"><img src="http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q158/mmcewen/Recipes-1-1.jpg" /></a>

[Inspired by "Scribbit."]

This week it goes to "Autism in a Word" at "RhemasHope" for her comment on the "Special Exposure /Wordless Wednesday" post where she made this comment:-

'This is so interesting to me. When I was a child I read the book “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” in one afternoon. I then decided to “go mute” as Maya Angelou had done. Like your son, it only lasted a few days. It was just too hard. (I think of my brief selective mutism often - now that I have a nonverbal child.)
I find your children amazing and inspiring (what a genius communication system!), and I am so glad they are “a bit more verbal” now. Gives me hope.'

Because 'hope' is what we're all about.

Cheers dears

Snorty Saturday

Please Scroll down for Saturday Photo Hunters




Smiley Saturday comes to us via "Lightening on Line."

This is a new one for me but I thought it would be a good exercise in practicing being optimistic since I am a natural, die in the woods, pessimist, if not to say cynic.

If you need a hint about how to do this, you can check out "Marita's" post over at "Stuff with Thing" on her post called, oddly enough "Smiley Saturday." It seems to be a weekly review. Can you tell I'm a newbie?

It's hard to encapsulate a whole week, especially when it was an extra short one with a 'service/ in staff training day' but I can think of a couple of things, well maybe just one, that made me laugh this week. Well earlier this morning actually, just after six a.m.

My son found another free new friend, and he told me about it with words, in the garden, shivering, and he shared 'her' which was not an accidental or random reference, and he used the word 'green' for the first time in 18 months, and he named 'her' 'Hike girl!' and he told me that she bites boy Praying Mantid's heads off!

That made me snort.

Photo Friday - ordinary

Surprise, surprise we can do very ordinary too.



Unless you take into account the photographer himself, who was supposed to be in bed, and the fact that it's merely a reflection in the glass window, then it's a bit more.....well.....less ordinary, at least around here.

If you enjoy photography as well as a giggle, you may wish to pop along to "DJ Kirky's" blog and have a go at her "caption contest" or even book mark it for next week?

Cheers dears

Thoughtful Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about redecorating a bedroom

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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1. Clear room of everything,
2. Clarify each detail of colour and co-ordination, a swatch board may help
3. contact contractors for anything big or affordable
4. obtain three estimate for each part of the project
5. replace flooring or steam clean
6. buy paint and other supplies
7. paint walls
8. paint the furniture
9. buy or make new bedding
10. buy or make new curtains
11. remove all debris after this evolution
12. weed contents of room
13. replace contents of room

And that, as they say, is all there is to it, assuming you have the financial wherewithal, which many do not. It’s an easy thirteen, or it is if you do it once a decade. Around here, once a decade is all we can manage for one reason and another.

Some "families" have a subtext to such proceedings which can be difficult to "translate." I’d like to share a snippet or two, some insight into a little of what my boys experience. Some "families" also experience some of these things. "Others" have a variation on a theme.

2. You would think with only two "children" to manage rather than "four" it would be a breeze. Half the responsibility, time and chores, but life isn’t like that here. This kind of evolution, where there is change and something different fundamentally upsets them. They become all discombobulated which means that they are more stressed and on edge than usual. This in turn means that many of their coping mechanisms come into sharp relief such has repetitive behavioiurs called stims, obsessive compulsive tendencies are rife as they try to calm themselves against the sea of strange.

3. Using the telephone to make arrangements is impossible whilst they are awake. Lifting the telephone receiver is a cue for them that my attention is elsewhere. Whilst is it s good children to learn that they are not the centre of the universe at all times, this has to be balanced against the substantial element of fear that I do not fully understand. These days however they have learned that my distraction is an invitation to get up to mischief, a factor that I would like to celebrate as a great advance on the fear factor from a few years ago. Celebrations must be limited due to the chaos that can follow in the wake of unsupervised children. Lucky us!

4. Strangers coming to the house is always a cause of great angst. A few years ago strangers were either feared or invisible. These days they are welcomed by both the boys following a serious spate of social stories where we practice what to do, and reinforce their behaviour through role play and modeling. It is time consuming but very effective.

5. Additionally, social stories have been updated to take account of people who wish to engage with the stranger, as a monologue on Pokemons’ many attributes isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

6. Strict rules must be enforced regarding sharing. The arbitrary rules about sharing one’s toys is not necessarily reciprocated by other adults and their tool boxes.

7. Children must be engaged and distracted during all periods of time involving ‘noise.’ Noise need not necessarily be loud, merely unfamiliar.

8. Strangers who remove things from the house are not burglars. Last time I checked no-one was buying tatty carpet and underlay on the black market.

9. Even if you are careful to buy non-toxic, environmentally friendly, fume free paints, the smell is still obnoxious. No amount of open windows can dispel the smell, only time will tell if you can escape from this homey hell.

10. Maintain as much of a semblance of a routine as is humanly possible throughout this tortuous period of change.

11. Removing familiar toys because they are old, no longer used and belong to your big sister in her absence is the equivalent of burying her in a coffin.

12. There is only so much that one parent can do alone at night, so know your limitations.

13. Lastly and most importantly, pay close attention to your chosen colour scheme. Wet red paint really does look like blood.

Please be kind enough to correct, add or subtract, as you see fit.






p.s. this is not meant as some kind of pity party, it didn't happen all at once but crept up on us gradually. Think of it more as a part explanation for my personal inefficiency quotient.

Well at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Wed - Special exposure

A long while back, I had a couple of non-verbal boys.

Later, they became......a bit more verbal.

A wee while ago, one of them decided "not to talk" any more, for no apparent reason that I could fathom.

I was worried!

I hoped it was a positive choice on his part, a voluntary mute. I decided to worry and wait. I wondered how long I would have to wait? How long is it possible to remain mute, voluntarily?

Meanwhile, whilst I waited, I found my house suddenly plastered with numerous arrows of varying hues and sizes.



With a little help from his sister in the paper and cutting department, they decided to let me in on the act.

He posted a key to the arrows in chart form and stuck it to the fridge. Pink arrows for food, blue arrows for 'other needs,' blue arrows to direct my attention to important matters of interest and green arrows for area from which I was no longer permitted entry.

He added a few pertinent notes just in case I failed to catch his drift.


Everything comes to she who waits. Although for a moment there I returned to times when I would count words per day. Other people still wait.

Why might this be of interest to anyone else other than us? Because there are other skills that we learn, skills that we believe we have mastered, although often a little late in the day. If you find that new skill disappears overnight and you hunt for it for hours, maybe a little time will pass before it comes back again. I call it the "corkscrew effect." I wouldn't like anyone to waste valuable worrying time.

The words returned after four and a half days, a feat that I doubt I could challenge myself as I do have a tendency to whitter on a bit.

For more words, you may wish to meet up with "Nonna" or the "Alien."

Tackle it Tuesday - Welcome home

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR RUBY TUESDAY / CATS ON TUESDAY



From earlier this summer.





This is the room, originally, together with an interloper.









What can I say? It seemed like a good idea at the time. With both the girls gone for two weeks at Summer Camp, I was confident that I could redecorate her bedroom with time to spare.

As they all get older I become bolder, but her choice of red, my own personal favourite, made me baulk. A bedroom should be a place of peaceful repose, not a fire filled incendiary.

We compromised. White walls with dashes of red decor.

What I hadn't calculated, is the amount of help and assistance I would derive from other quarters.

But I digress.

This is the original room, as decorated for her older sister quite a few years ago. Alright, I admit it, a decade. After ten years in this room, it was time for a change.

White walls, a colour that was identified as Swiss Coffee, for some mystifying reason, coated the walls.

All the wooden furniture was painted red.

This only left the carpet.

The carpet, previously owned by the previous owners together with their pets, was a striking shade of pale grey. Pet deposits are difficult to eradicate, hence the pale grey effect was worsened by the splotchy additional patches, a great many of them. A new carpet, any carpet is the single most expensive outlay when it comes to redecoration.

But it was worth it.


It will have to last at least 10 years.

Since there are endless sites and books offering comprehensive advice on decorating projects I shall limit my advice to the following:-

When you make curtains and attach the curtain tape, take care. Oversew the outside edges several times.









Before you pull the gathering strings ensure that you double knot both ends, or you will be sure to unravel. When you pull the gathering strings, pick a point a few inches in from the outer seam because that way you will avoid having an annoying piece of visible dangley string on the edge of your curtain.







Oversewing the edges will ensure that when your children swing from the curtains, the edge will remain secure. It will not weaken. It will not rip. Instead the whole curtain track will crash down on top of your child.

I believe you have been duly warned.

Now I must attend to another lapsed campaign:- is there anything else that we might swing upon, as we surely need a cheaper form of vestibular regulation.


If I decorate one room every decade then I'm probably not doing too badly.

Ruby Tuesday and Cats on Tuesday

Look closely!

Genealogy – a brief history

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A nation is a society united by delusions about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors.
- William Ralph Inge

From a few weeks ago [ish]

I sit knitting a "poncho" for Nonna as a surprise birthday present, the perfect gift for someone enduring an 85 degree heat wave.

My son lies at my feet examining carpet fibres.

“What it is?”
“What is what dear?”
“Dat fing on yur finger?”
“My wedding ring, this one?”
“No…..dah lil one which is being……bented.”
“Ah well that’s the McEwen seal, for a Scottish clan.”

I shut my mouth, drop a stitch and hear the pot boiling over in the kitchen.

I know that I have made several serious errors but I blunder on to pick up all the little hic-cups that I can manage.

“A seal is not a swimming mammal kind of a seal, it’s the kind of seal that you put on letters……er……..letters that come in the mail not the ABC kind of letters.”

I pause to draw breath, permit percolation and processing, mainly my own. I count to ten and then continue.

“Do you see the little tree on the ring? That is an oak tree that has been struck by lightening, so the top came off.”

Too many "triggers!" Conversations with this child are a minefield of "unexploded fears."




“But look, see that teeny tiny little leaf? That means that the tree has survived, it’s going to be o.k. It’s growing again. It goes along with the motto, Re res......actually it's Latin for 'I grow green again,' but we won't bother with that bit now.”

I take a few gulps.

He looks at me with a dubious air.
"We are skip dah Latins today?"
"Verily, let us not muddy the waters any further!"
"Mud?"
"Confuse....I mean..."
"Scottishs say Latins?"
"Ooo er well, not really.....but Latin was the common language amongst all those dialects.....any way I.."
"Dey have Daleks in Scottishs?"
"No....well not then in any case......"

I scrabble to regain ground. “Back in the olden, olden days there was a castle at the Firth of Fourth, or possibly the Fourth of Fifth, near Fife or possibly Fishgard, which was the McEwen Castle. 'Mc' means 'son of'...er......Ewen.....which is Scottish for John, sort of. Anyway, all around the castle, there were oak trees, so it’s sym…..bol……ic……….which means it is a symbol, not the clashing musical instrument kind of cymbal but……a sign that means something.”

Why on earth did I ever even begin this!

“It is be like a ……..sandcastle?”
“Well it certainly collapsed like one…..er…….I mean, it’s a ruined castle, like Corf Castle. Do you remember "Corf Castle?”
“Yeah.” Horray, something from England has permeated.
“It’s like a "coat of arms," it shows significant things about a family……”

What on earth am I talking about?

“What you are do?”
“With the ring? I thought you might ask that.”

But clearly not early enough.

“Well in the olden days people wrote letters on scrolls or parchment…….I mean……...envelopes hadn’t been invented yet, so people rolled up their pieces of parch....paper, with the writing on the inside……so it wouldn’t get wet……..because then the ink would run……..because they didn’t have biros back then…..”

Why is this so difficult!


“Dah ink is………..run?”
“Yes I’m sorry about that I meant……leak, spread…….make a nasty mess that you wouldn’t be able to read any more.”
“Like ……..dah magic ink!”
“Exactly so! Anyway, the other thing they didn’t have was glue, …….nor elastic bands come to think of it......……so hey invented sealing wax…....…which was wax that would seal or stick the paper together so that it wouldn’t unravel.”

I am unraveling much faster!

“What?”
“What what?”
“Wax?”
“Ah, well wax is…..just like candles, like on your birthday cake.”
“I am hate dah flames!”

I slip my arm around his shoulders so that he doesn’t escape, as I have let off more fire crackers than usual, and we need closure. I watch the stitches slip off the needle one by one, “so you’ve seen the drip on the candle as it melts? Well if you collect those drips they work like glue and stick the paper closed. Whilst it’s still a warm blob, you take the ring, the seal, and stick it in the wax and it leaves the mark of the tree. Then when……the delivery man..er....person…….brings the letter……..they already know who it’s from …….and they know that nobody else has taken a peek.”
“It is be private?”
“Exactly so.” He ponders.

“I am want?”
“What do you want dear, a ring? I'm afraid you'll have to wait until you're 18.”
“No …..dat would be an owie finger…….....I am want a "coat wiv no arms" too.”




Please stop by for an "anecdote from an alien" or a "Note from Nonna."


If anyone knows of a handy mechanic who is able to fix blog bugs, please give me a tinkle. I wonder if that should be 'bloganic'?

Magic Marker Monday

Here's one from my typical girl, it's about 9 inches tall, hanging in the kitchen.




She copied it from her Nonna's version, which is about five foot tall, hanging in the hall:-




She copied from you know "who!" It is "91 by 72" centimetres.

SOOC

This is from "Melody" at "Slurping Life" and refers to 'Straight out of the Camera'

Scroll down for Saturday Photo hunters and awards






The explanation =

"Mom?"
"Yes dear?"
"I am need."
"What do you need dear?"
"My medieval."
"Your what?"
"Medieval."
"Do you have some more describing words perhaps lovie?"
"Er....it is being a shirt dat cool baseball guys are wear."
"Ah. A sleeveless t-shirt then?"
"Yes."
"I don't get the medieval bit?"
"It is be look medieval."

I found it. Medieval? Ethiopian dearie. Maybe we need a geography lesson or perhaps history?

Cheers dears

Recipe Award [s]

Please Scroll Down [a couple of pages] to Photo Hunters




Additional little deviations.

First of all many grateful thanks to "Angela" from "Memoirs of a Chaotic Mommy" the button making genius for creating these buttons for me in the first place.

I love them both and couldn't decide which one to use and then I thought, delegation! Someone else can make the decision for me, much easier, you get to choose.

To "Michelle o"Neil" at "Full Soul Ahead" for "Baked Pears / Riley's Dessert."

"Melinda" for her "recipe" for cookies and who also hangs out over here for special diets "gfcf Mama."

Then to "Bipolarlawyercook" for her post called "Spinach pear and chicken apple sausage salad," the picture is enough to make you slather!

Then "Your Vegan Mom" because she is just wonderful when you're in a fix, which I usually am. Try out this recipe for "Pizza Sandwich" but only if you can dislocate your jaws of course.

"Michelle" at "Zanes Milk Machine" for her post "Mich cooks snowballs."

For "Empress Bee (of the High Sea)" on "Muffin 53" and her post "Snickerdoodles."

And to "Hammer" from "When your Only Tool is a Hammer" for his recipe called "Hammer's Wing Recipe" which strangely has nothing to do with flying.

Lastly to the "Antiwife" for a very interesting and alternative "recipe" indeed!

Guidelines:-

1. If you have time you may wish to link to the originators [Ooo, that would be me I suppose? No that would probably be "Angela" on second thoughts. Can you tell that I pinched these rules from someone else?]

2. Whizz it off to seven other blogs that you like, ideally to a perfect and specific recipe.

3. Tell the awardee that you have awarded them [because lots of people will never know otherwise because they have no way of knowing unless you tell them, unless they're higher up the blogging learning curve than I am!]

4. Sit back and enjoy the glow.

Cheers dears

Knitting Award

Please Scroll down for Photo Hunters and our regularly scheduled programme, or glance in the sidebar to your right.

Yes, a little deviation but I have been wanting to do this for a very long time.

First of all many grateful thanks to "Angela" from "Memoirs of a Chaotic Mommy" the button making genius for creating these buttons for me in the first place.

First to "Anne" from "Anne's House," funnily enough. You can see some of her work on her post called "how was your weekend."

Then to "Crazy for Yarn" at the "Yarn collectors anonymous" although I can't link to a specific page if you scroll down [past cats and squirrels......[see why I like it?] then you get to see the knitting.

Then to "knit and Tonic" loads of brilliant idea here to suit all comers as well as lots of helpful hints.

Also to "mini knitting lessons" because I need the visuals sometimes.

Then to "Emma" at the "Middle Knitter."

Also to "Wendy" at "cat knits" I mean! What a perfect combination.

Then to "Amy" at "Live Learn Knit," a multi- tasker if ever there was one!




Last one, a new one for me and possibly the solution to the Webkins clothes dilemma for "Carol" from "Go knit in your hat." It's bad enough saving to buy the Webkinz. I absolutely refuse to save to buy clothes for the little blighters.





Guidelines:-

1. If you have time you may wish to link to the originators [Ooo, that would be me I suppose? No that would probably be "Angela" on second thoughts. Can you tell that I pinched these rules from someone else?]

2. Whizz it off to seven other blogs that you like, ideally to a perfect and specific recipe.

3. Tell the awardee that you have awarded them [because lots of people will never know otherwise because they have no way of knowing unless you tell them, unless they're higher up the blogging learning curve than I am!]

4. Sit back and enjoy the glow.



Cheers dears