Mr. Frogman LIves Up to New Name!!

Yes Mr. Frogman is living up to his new name splendidly! He has most recently grown at least another inch. He eats like there is no tomorrow and the grocery bill has almost doubled. It's all good though. I know it is going to happen.

Recently he blacked out in school falling over after sitting in his chair for about a minute. Was mom a bit freaked? Yes! So was he. He didn't know what was going on. I of course picked him up from school and came home to be mom and let him know everything was going to be okay.

We of course called the doctor and made an appointment. He was seen. They relate it back to blood sugar and his possibly had crashed as it was right before lunch. So each day I send in a healthy snack with him to school between breakfast and lunch. So far though he has not had another issue. I thought he was taking a snack each day already but he told me that he would get it after school instead of taking one to school. **Sigh** Now he tells me. So now it breakfast, snack, snack, lunch, snack, snack, dinner, snack, dessert. (Not really but the way the groceries are going it seems like it).

As we went into the doctors office he complained about what the doctor said. She said they were going to have to do a blood draw. He looked at me and asked, "What is that?" I explained that they were going to hook up a hose to his arm and drain out everything until he looked like a flat dried up prune. He laughed and then after a good laugh looked at me and said, "Seriously mom, what is it?" I looked at him again and explained what they were going to do. He scrunched up his face, "Awww Man! I don't want that!" He asked me then, "Are they going to poke my finger too?" I told him, "I don't think so but I am not sure." He seemed okay with that and laid back down on the table. We started laughing and talking about things.

When the nurse came in to take the blood draw he looked at her and asked, "Okay, how much am I donating today?" She laughed and said, "Only these 3 tubes." I have not seen Kirby go white like he did at that moment and squeak, "Okay." They get all done poking his arm without a sound from him and taking the blood draw removing the needle, he states in a very grown up voice, "That wasn't so bad." Then the other nurse walks in and has to check his blood sugar by poking his finger. He whined for the next half an hour over a finger prick verses a needle shoved into his arm. Amazing.

After his appointment we went out to breakfast and then off to school he went. He scowled at me when he found out I was taking him to school instead of taking the day off. Unfortunately a day off is not in my plans for a bit but it could happen. One day perhaps....Just Maybe. :)

Mr. Frogman gets a new Name!

I have got to change Mr. Frogmans name to a new name. I have finally found one that fits him. He has grown so much in the past year and his appetite has grown with him. He eats..and eats...and eats. Its good to see but yet I wonder. I limit him to what he can have and what he needs, and of course an occassional bit of junk food.

Lately though he has been the first one done at the table each night for the past month. Usually everyone around the table is talking so I don't always notice how fast he is eating or how big the bites. However, this past week I have been taking some extra time to watch and decided Mr. Frogman needs a new nickname.

I have decided that it will have to be KIRBY. Yes just like the cute little guy in the video games. Not only that but just like the vaccuum cleaner too! Yes, Mr. Frogman sucks down his meals like a vaccuum. I was able to catch him at it with his face down to his plate and his lips in a suction fashion so he could suck down his food. I can't believe he can clear a plate that fast.

There should be a world record competition for that some place! I bet he would win too! We aren't at the table five minutes and he is done. I have to get him distracted and talking to make him slow down. He asks for seconds and I have him wait 10 minutes so he doesnt over fill himself. Amazing what he will eat and then come back for 30 minutes later.

I would have named him Hoover but his dad's dog was named Hoover and he is still there. I didn't want to conflict with anything. Very shortly I am going to make him a T-shirt that has Kirby on the back...no one will know but him and I...Well, except you too! but I know you won't say anything :)

Time Again!

The days are getting longer. The snow hasn't stopped falling. We have 6 inches of snow on the ground one day and 2 days later its sunny and the snow is gone. The kids have to make up yet another day of school at the end of the year. March 15th is fast approaching and corporate taxes are not yet done. April 15th is fast approaching and my personal taxes are not yet done.

You would think I would have time to accomplish all of this again. Not yet...but I am working on it...

Right now I am a bit focused on man trouble. The man I want doesn't know I exist so I keep it to myself. There is a man in my life that really wants me and I won't commit. His heart is in the right place but to me it is not quite right. As much as I care very deeply for him as a friend I can't get past that point.

I have girlfriends trying to hook me up with their male friends and that is just not working. Too old or too young. I can't win. I am tired of blind dates or meeting them at a convenient lunch meeting. How do you tell your married friends not to set you up with their single friends? Maybe just like that.

I can get dates just fine on my own. Getting them is easy. Making sure the person is a right fit is a different story...You don't like them and they like you...You like them they don't like you...no chemistry...both of you deciding that you are definitely not compatible.

This online dating thing stinks...how do you honestly meet somone who is right for you over email? Over IM? Over not speaking and understanding tone, intent, interpretation through unspoken words?

I don't know. Whatever happened to running into someone? Meeting over coffee? The dating world has greatly changed. A few months ago I was grocery shopping. I started a conversation with a man just out of the blue trying to be friendly...we were looking at the same item. As we talked I continued to shop. I had a lot to do...maybe he was watching what I was choosing and how much to guage if I was single or what...but we kept talking and asking questions. I had been avoiding a particular aisle for a while as I didn't want to embarass him by going down it and it was the final item I needed. I tried a few times to end the conversation but I could see that wasn't going to happen. As I strolled down my final aisle and started searching for what I needed he proceeded to mention we should get together sometime. As I reached for that dreaded box of womens personal items he asked me to dinner. He came to realize what I was shopping for at that moment. He didn't miss a beat. He asked if I was available in a week. I'm sure to make sure I was over whatever it was for the current week.

We did go to dinner and it was good...however, we were not a good match for one another.

So back to my issue. I do want someone in my life, I am in no hurry but it gets awful lonesome being alone.

Maybe with Mr. Frogman gone this weekend its tougher. I am not sure as to why it just is. I sure miss the not so little guy when he is gone.

Life's Twists and Turns

Life changes...

I have friends that I am not getting to spend as much time with as I would like to. I feel as though there is a growing distance. I have someone in my life I want more with but I don't know how to say it or if I even can.

One friend is flying to California to an interview and if he receives a job offer he may move. I don't get to see him a lot now as it is, life keeps me busy but if he moves I will see him much less. It's hard to have friends go a further distance away. The friendship remains, but it is farther apart.

Another friend lives 100+ miles to the north of me. He is having part of his foot amputated this next week. It's amazing how you don't have time for people. Everything else seems so important when things happen you realize how unimportant some things are and how important other things should be in your life.

I've met a few new people lately in order to expand my social life. It's not in with the new and out with the old. It's keep the old and integrate the new. I am thankful for the friends I have and the new ones I have met. It is interesting how life brings changes that makes people think about what they have and what is truly important to them.

Thank you to all my friends, Wolfman, Intimidator, Sightsee'r, Casinodude, Little Red, Jolie, Trucker; you mean a lot to me and I want to let you all know that. No matter where life takes you I will support and stand by you in all that you do. Love you All!!

It's Been a Month Since the Day!

It's been a month since the day the first diagnosis came in. I was diagnosed with Chicken Pox. Down and out for almost a month thinking I had the flu. The doctor tested me for pregnancy (not likely even in the slightest unless it would be the second coming of Christ), to all sorts of blood and lab tests, being subjected to poking, prodding, stabbing, cutting and finally to be told I have chicken pox. Oh Lucky Me!

I get through that to finally feeling better, to find out that since my immune system was compromised I have developed a bacterial infection that requires a very strong antibiotic to fight it. Come to find out I am allergic to sulfa based antibiotics. Unfortunately for me there is no other antibiotic that can fight this. As I am battling hives in places around by body where hives don't belong I find out that I need to be very cautious with the longevity of the antibiotic. They have put me on it for four weeks. The final downside to all of this is that now I am on IV antibiotics to counter all the symptoms of a syndrome that can occur from taking prolonged antibiotics with an allergic reaction. Only 2 more doses and I am done. Then it's a wait and see game.

Mr. Frogman and I have made a point to do homework each night together so I have some down time and he gets all of his homework done and all late or missing homework in and is ready for the next trimester in school. This is the final portion of the school year for him, the down hill slide into Junior High. He has been such a trooper through all of this but I know it is wearing and trying for him too.

He recently shared with me he has a crush on a young lady in his class. We were spending some much needed time together and he told me about all of this. His dad makes fun of hijm every time he mentions anything about a girl.. Mr. Frogman bought her a red rose for valentines day. He has been practicing what he is going to say to her. It is so cute I just want to laugh, but I can't. He keeps telling me how much love hurts and there are days he thinks that she doesn't even know he exists. They are friends and he doesn't want to hurt that friendship. Smart Kid...Takes after his mom :)

Mr. Frogman has been a trooper through all of my being sick and in/out of the doctors. This has been a trying time for him. Although he has come through very strong.

I often wonder how much he suffers for everything I have to endure. Is he getting his childhood taken away with all that I have to deal with? Am I giving him enough? Am I doing enough as a mom? How much does he really understand? I know it's enough and I know I am doing the best I can but I often wonder if my best is enough lately?

As he gets older he amazes me with his maturity and understanding. In the past year he has grown up so much. He has grown about a foot in the last year and stands almost as tall as myself. Emotionally he has grown immensely too. From thinking girls are gross to now being intertested. It was almost yesterday they had cooties.

Amazing how they grow! Learn! Blosson!

So much happening...So Little Time...

Welcome to 2007. So much happening so little time!

Between work, corporate taxes (and more taxes and more taxes and even more taxes), the book I have been working on for the last few years. I received a response from an agent! Yes the book needs more work, yes I need to find a new editor, my full time job, preparing Mr. Frogman for Middle School or Junior High School. Starting all the meetings.

I'm not sure how much fight I have at the moment. This winter has taken its toll on myself, all of us in the house, my now lack of vacation time and needing a vacation away desparately...Some place warm, blue skies, beaches, HEAT...Okay that sounds good :)

Soon, very soon that is going to become a reality.

What brought the vacation idea on? Sitting at work today doing my normal daily mundane tasks, my computer, I have noticed every time I go into a particular screen runs particularly fast, hard and loud. It sounds almost like an airplane taking off. I was thinking of how many times Iwould have to go into and out of that screen for my computer to get me to Hawaii or Mexico. Which would it get me too faster? Then I got to researching the distance from Home to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico or Honolulu, Hawaii.

It has been almost 7 years since I was last in Hawaii in March of 2000. My ex's and my 10 year wedding anniversary. We spent 2 weeks in paradise. It was also the year my marriage started to fall apart. Amazing how you can go from wedded bliss to singleness. Amazing...Hindsight is definitely 20/20. Oh well, I am still thinking some place warm...

I have been thinking about an adult only get away to Disneyland! Taking a friend or two and just the adults heading out of town. Of course we will take the kids later. Mr. Frogman has been to Disneyland twice already and is going with his dad possibly again this summer.

But going to the Happiest place on Earth would be a great thing at this point after this pointedly cold and ugly winter. Although the snow (again) is beautiful its getting long and being forced to take vacation is not quite how I want to spend my vacation time.

I am going to research a bit more and see if there are any good deals I can find! I am sure they have a few out there that I can take advantage of....It will give me something to do when I am bored at work with nothing to do. It's amazing how much of doing nothing will zap your energy levels of wanting to do anything. It leaves me a lot of time to get stuff done for everything else, both on corporate taxes, personal taxes for all who request that I complete them for them, reading (I haven't had much time for that recently), writing, editing, and spending time with Friends and Family.

Mr. Frogman needs my attention so I will sign off for now. Have a great night!

Stupid Stories of the Week!

There have been 2 very stupid stories of the week. I can blame it on the full moon or I am just bored at work and let my mind have some momentary time off. I think my cohort in crime coworker Lady Leah at work had her moment here 2 weeks ago. Mine was more so stupid or they can be compared and both be equally stupid.

During the second day of our power outage at work (it was a Monday). I brought in fresh baked banana bread and real butter for us to enjoy as we sat at work not doing much of anything. As we sat and enjoyed a quiet breakfast, Lady Leah and myself, laughing and joking and spending time that we normally don't get to catch up on things. Finally we were sent home.

Day 2 of the power outage we again sat talking and serving banana bread. As we sat in our heavy coats and teeth chattering I started again to slice the banana bread, I opened the butter and looked, hemmed and hawed a bit and said, "Well, I don't think the butter is going to spread like it did yesterday. It's a bit cold." Lady Leah looked at me and non chalantly commented, "We can wait a bit until the butter reaches room temperature."

I dumbfoundedly looked at her as my teeth chattered and I held a cup of hot cocoa close to keep my hands warm and started to chuckle. I picked up the butter knife, tapped it on the cube of butter, looked at her and said, "Well, Lady Leah I think it is already at room temperature."

She and I started to laugh and her face turned red. She stated that she couldnt believe she had just said that. I couldn't either. We laughed about how she said her brain had gone on vacation a few hours early as she was headed out of town the same day.

We still get a good chuckle out of that now and then.

Today at work I sat bored the second half of my day. As I sat there wondering what to do next, work is light this month. I was a bit concerned I was only answering training questions, I know Lady Leah wasn't feeling well and was having a hard time focusing on remembering all the details of her job. I was a bit concerned when I went to call her I had my head set upside down and was concerned that she would be able to understand me if my headset wasn't the right direction. LOL I don't know what brought that on.

Time to turn the brain on and keep it working....**Sigh** I can't believe that I even had that type of thought. Onto the weekend where my brain can take a real break...

Happy New Year!!

Ok...Ok I am a few days late. Happy New Year Everyone!!

I made no resolutions this year at all. I have failed in the past so I figure why set myself up for failure. In stead I have set realistic goals for the next year and I am well on my way to accomplishing them. I will have to post my picture of the road of life for you here in the near future. I get many laughs from it and from people who like to think about it I get compliments.

I will have to redraw and scan it in here soon. I am not able to duplicate it like I did the first time. **Sigh** Oh well. I will add it to my blog soon.

Have a great night.

Storm Stories Coming Soon to a Blog Near You!!

I will have storm stories from the past week for you coming very soon.

We were very priveledged during this last storm to only lose power for an hour and a half before the storm began.

However there was a price to pay for this. My office has been out of power for 6 days. Without power I am unable to do my job. I have unfortunately not been able to work and have been forced to take time off.

I really enjoy the time off and able to spend time with family. The paycheck however will suffer greatly.

The price to pay. Many people complained about not having power at home and how they had to go to work to get warm. I had to leave a warm home to go to a job that was not available.

How backwards is that?

A few more days at home and then back to the work grind again. My office now has power. My "Monday" on Tuesday is going to be drastically busy. Without being able to do any work for a week I have to catch up on all my daily tasks. It will take me about 2 days to get caught up with all the everyday work I still have to do. Even with the holidays we are still very busy.

Enjoy the holidays, time with family and friends! 2006 is an excellent year.

2007 will be even better!!

'Twas...

'Twas 2 nights before Christmas and all through the place,
People were buzzing it looked like a race.

Stockings were hung on the bookshelves with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas wouldn't leave coal in there.

Kids were playing, arguing and such,
Mom and dad were in a rush, rush, rush.

Getting presents wrapped under the tree with care
Dad trying to keep mom from pulling out her hair.

While cooking dinner there was a loud cladder
I ran outside to see what was the matter.

There on the ground in the cold rain
laid dad on his back in terrible pain.

He fell down making a huge cladder
we found him on the ground next to the fallen ladder.

We rushed over to him to find out if he's okay
"No worries, no worries," we all heard him say.

As he limped across the yard pulling lights behind
We could hear him cry and we could hear him whine.

"These stinking lights, why, why, why?
Oh they need to go up or soon I will cry!"

Cookies and fudge were cooling in the kitchen,
Children were lurking and drooling hoping they were finger licking.

The house was clean the dishes done
Now the whole house was ready for fun!

What do you do 2 nights before christmas?
Unsure of this the boys were restless.

In hopes that Chistmas would come a day sooner
Or they would go crazy could they get any loonier?

Will Santa find us? Will he be here?
Of Course, of coures he will!

He won't forget you or me
Take a good look at our tree!

With everything ready, wrapped, packed and cooked
I settled back with no more time booked.

This holiday seemed busier than most
No longer the director, no longer the host.

After the weary day I layed down to rest
We know the kids all gave their best.

The kids were filled with worry and strife
wondering if they had done everything right.

Just about to doze all snug and warm
Dad tried to turn on the charm.

When I said, "No, I have a headache tonight."
He rolled on over and turned off the light.

"Merry Christmas," he grumbled,
"Merry Christmas, Yeah Right."

Storms, Storms and more storms...

First it was the snow...then it was the rain....finally it was the wind...

If you are from the Pacific Northwest you will know what the weather has been like. As I previously talked about it taking 7 hours to get home one night. Then the rain storms that came through that dumped a ton of rain in a very short time.

Finally last week it was the windstorms including the downpouring of rain. We had anywhere from 60-90 mph gusts depending on your location. As I stood looking out the kitchen window and watched the window bow under the pressure of the wind thinking, "Is it really safe to be standing here if the window should shatter?"

We lost power for about an hour and a half before any portion of the storm started and havent lost power since. We have been very fortunate.

The downfall to all of us being fortunate is that the workplace life is unfortunate. My office has been without power since Friday of last week. Up to this point in time we do not have power and without power I am completely unable to do my job. No one is sure as to when we will have power restored. We are being told before Friday, I hope so. I have used 1/3 of my vacation time to make up for lost hours this week. **What a challenge**

I get to work at 8am and then by 10:30 am with our teeth chattering they finally send us home, realizing the power isn't going to come on. We are asked to stay close (not sure where the whole area is out of power) or with in cell phone calling distance. If we don't hear from them by noon then to head home for the day. Of course each day we did not hear anything so we headed home by noon. Today it was 9:30 in the morning and we were sent home. I didn't hesitate, I was out the door and on my way home within 10 minutes of the announcement.

Wooohooo!! On my way home to clean the house! Kinda sad when that is my only thought...although the most of the house cleaning is done before the weekend and family coming into town.

Only 1 Day left....Until...

Mr. Frogman is going to be with his dad through the holidays. Another year getting through with smiles and telling everyone that things are okay when inside they really aren't. The one person I want to actually spend the holidays with won't be there.

It makes for a tough 2 weeks. We will have a heck of a christmas when he gets home. He and I both know this and it will be a sweet homecoming this year.

He leaves tomorrow. **Sigh** We are enjoying one more evening together.

6 Days and Counting!

Only 6 days and counting. It's a challenge keeping Monkey Dude Jr. in line. He keeps challenging Santa with his behavior...It's constant in the negative. We are trying to keep him on the up and up. We wrote him a Santa warning letter.

It's a wait and see game. I keep telling him that I hope that Santa wasn't looking when he did the things he did.

We are finding out the Monkey Dude Jr. is ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) he loves things in order and in a routine and schedule. Amazingly enough when tht happens we have bliss. Any changes, however, and we get bloody hell. **Sigh** Starting over again with child #2.

They are worth it though.

Mr.Frogmans Thought for the Day...

You have to keep the train moving forward or it won't continue working...

It's going to take me a bit to decipher what his meaning on this thought is or to find out what good laugh he has in store for me if I can't figure it out. :)

So Many Things So Little Time! (again)

There are many things happening all at once. Maybe it's self imposed stress, who knows. I am avoiding health issues at this time. I need to wait until after the Holidays when Mr. Frogman is at his dads and I will address it all at that time.

Taxes and business stuff is really weighting things down...Business equipment going down and out of commission when you least expect it.

Arguments with Mr. Frogmans dad. He is autistic and his dad does not believe there is anything wrong with him. A battle with ignorance. So many things so much misunderstanding. Between him and his fiancee having 5 kids between them, and they think there is nothing wrong with Mr. Frogman, as well as their 1st grader who does not know any of his letters or numbers or basic sounds and they keep pushing him onto the next grade. They tellNo me they are frustrated and they fight and push him to learn but he just isn't picking it up. So as I watch their lack of patience and his inability to make connections I am seeing a child being, in my opinion, set up for failure. Even if I stand up and say something it will fall on deaf ears.

Her kids can do no wrong and they don't believe Mr. Frogman should be in special ed. I laughed. Mr. Frogman is mainstreamed in school. He has some school services but not the special ed. If his dad was more involved in his life he would know this. If he were involved in the IEP meetings he would know what it is all about.

Just tonight they again told me I baby him...well, I don't believe a 7 year old needs to be treated like a teen ager or a young adult. I believe kids need to be kids. I know they need to learn independence and over time life skills. But I don't believe a 12 year old should be doing laundry for a family of 7. Maybe a load now and then but not for everyone all the time.

My final frustration of this is that Mr. Frogmans dad tries to punish Mr. Frogman at his dad's for his room being a mess at my house. How fair is that? I finally had to lay down the law tonight. I told his dad for the final time, I am no longer your wife, your girlfriend or anything else to you. If you want to control something control your woman, but you will not decide what will or will not be done in my home. I don't come in and do that to you. I expect the same. If you are unable to keep that separate then you will not be allowed in my home. He tried to explain that he had a right. I told him no the only right he had was to pick up his son every other weekend. He had no right to decide what, when, why, how for our son. That was my responsibility, he gave up most of everything when signing the final documents. Call this my frustration and anger speaking and this is not even the full extent...

Is stupidity a disease???

Cut backs...

My company like most in the 4th fiscal quarter of the year have been making cut backs since the beginning of the year. Cutting costs and saving where they can. Consolidating branches and resetting areas and job requirements. This is normal when the mortgage industry slows way down and interest rates rise.

Like any company they are looking to keep costs low and customer service and clientele up. There are many aspects to this as many of us know. It's late for me and I have to be up at 4:30am to get Wolfman on the bus. But as my office has gone through the many changes we joke about what is to be cut next.

The company used to purchase paper plates, plastic forks, spoons, knives and paper towels. As I get these notifications from the higher up powers that be, I notify my office accordingly so that no one can complain that I am not doing my job or not ordering the necessary supplies. Most recently they have stopped allowing us to order the paper plates, forks and spoons. I notified everyone via email and of course I received back all of the groans and grumbles via email.

As a joke one of my co-workers responded with the following question:

"When is our drying rack coming in?"

I had to email her back and ask her what the drying rack was for.

She emailed back replying, "To dry our used papertowels for re-use."
I chuckled when I saw the next email from my manager informing us of the following:

"Paper towel drying rack is on back order but should be expected to be put to full use within the next two weeks."

Another co worker proceeded to enlighten us with the next possible cut backs. They were going to make us work by candlelight and mirrors. I laughed at this and explained that mirrors would be too expensive, since we had such a seasoned staff that had so many awards hanging on office walls they would have to use the candle and refracted light making it reflect from medal tag on each award to metal tag to the location they needed light. If they wanted it brighter they would have to put a little more shine on those engraved plates.

If our corporate office knew what kind of thinkers we would have some issues.

Who knows what they will think of next to cut back....

My only serious worry about all of this is that they may cut back jobs. Not that I am concerned about finding work. I am not...But the hassle of looking for another job before I don't have one is not my preference. Yes I am trying to avoid using the dreaded unemployed word...

Especially at this time of year....I don't think they would at this time of year but to save money any company would do what they had to do...**Sigh** not something to think about at this time.

The Day Has Finally Arrived!

Yes! The day has finally arrived for Mr. Frogman to take off his splint and move to a wrist brace for his arm for another 2-3 weeks. He will get to take it off the week of Christmas. What a great present! To be able to have no hinderance in his day to day happenings. I am very excited for him!

Now he will be able to finally take out the garbage and recycling again as well as help with dishes. No more listening to how difficult it is for him to wash his hair in the shower without help. He gets very embarrassed if Mom even talks about helping him in the shower.

**Sigh** Back to the way things were...Finally....

Happy Birthday Mr. Frogman

I am a bit late in posting this...

Happy Birthday
Mr. Frogman!!

Mr. Frogmans birthday was on Thanksgiving day. I didn't forget I spent the time with him instead of posting. He reminded me that I hadn't wished him a happy birthday on my blog and it would make him feel special if I did.

So Mr. Frogman Just for you sir...
I love you!!

Should I add lots of hearts and hugs and kisses too?!

Another day of patience....

Three weeks ago Mr. Frogman fractured his left arm at a Boy Scout camp out. He came home telling me it was sprained. He had it checked out by a fire fighter. Okay, I thought if it still hurt in a day or two we would make a doctors appointment and have it checked.

He wasn't home from the camp out 2 hours when, while I was working in the yard, he walked out very angrily. He came up to me and stood on one of the large landscaping rocks that embodied one of the beds around a tree in the yard. As he dramatically and emotionally explained to me that Monkey Dude Jr had tackled him and knocked him down to the hard floor where he landed on his arm yet again and telling me how badly it hurt. As he was animatedly trying to tell me his arm motions caused him to lose his balance and fall head over heels onto the ground literally doing a summer sault and then landing face first in the grass.

As he stood up I couldn't help but laugh at the entire front of his body covered in freshly cut grass, leaves and dirt. Mr. Frogman is not a small child. He stands about 5'6" if not a bit taller for a now 12 year old. I couldn't hold back the laugh since I wasn't sure if he was spitting out leaves and dirt (he wasn't actually), he was making a disgusted face and brushing himself off amazingly even angrier. It probably didn't help that mom was laughing. I know laughing wasn't the right thing but it stopped the potential down fall of emotions that would have quickly followed.

Since he had yet again hurt his arm I had to take appropriate action, we iced it down again and of course wrapped it up so that he could keep it still. The next morning he informed me that he needed to go and see the doctor. I was certain his wrist was sprained. He kept telling me that it was broken. I went to work and scheduled a doctors appointment only to be told I would have to take him to get x-rays since our doctors office doesn't have an x-ray machine. Off we went to get x-rays. Scheduled a second appointment with the doctors office to go over the x-rays.

We got into the Dr.'s office at 5:00pm and waited and waited. 2 hours in I asked when we were going to be seen. They informed me that the late evening appointments were on a time basis they would fit us in. I was frustrated by this time having waited this long and having 2 boys becoming more and more rambunctious. I was under the impression that we had a scheduled appointment time. The boys hadn't had dinner and were getting very wiggly. Even our wiggle activities weren't working these boys were ready to run. I finally had to have Wolfman come and get Monkey Dude Jr and pick up some dinner. This brought some relief to the situation. With Monkey Dude Jr gone. Mr. Frogman and I sat down to wait a bit longer to find out the results of the x-rays.

Lo and behold not 5 minutes later we were led into a room to talk to the doctor. The doctor came in and tried to lighten the blow. After Mr. Frogman recounted his story 2-3 times again they finally came out and told me that he had again fractured his arm on the growth plate yet again. So there we sat again joking about it until the doctor walked in again to set his arm in a splint. She looked at me with a glare over Mr. Frogmans head after he was seated in a chair. I truly didn't care. Mr. Frogman was starting to get agitated as it bothered him that he had to be in a splint for 4-6 weeks.

The doctor walked out and asked me to join her in the hall way before she wrapped his arm. She was upset because she didn't feel that I was taking this seriously. I looked at her and suddenly the smile left my face. I looked at her and made it very clear that I took this very seriously. I understood the severity of what was going on. My one statement that shook her was that, "Obviously you know nothing of children with Aspergers and my son. You haven't read his file eigther or you would know that I have to keep him distracted since you didn't read his file. He gets perturbed and agitated under flourescent lighting. You have had him cooped up in 2 different rooms for almost an hour with only flourescent lighting. I have to keep him distracted with humor, since it's easy to make him smile and laugh, or he will start to panic and get angry. Which would you prefer? To wrap an arm of a child smiling or laughing? or to wrap an arm of a child who can't sit still for you? Now you have a choice, you can wrap his arm with our humor and ways of keeping him calm or I can leave you with him in a very serious tone and have you deal with a child who will soon be agitated." The doctor looked at me and then told me she would rather have the humor. I walked back into the room with my son and smiled and asked if he was ready...He asked me, "ready for what?" I looked at him and said they needed him in a body cast and we were going to leave his feet and arm pits exposed. He asked me why. I told him so we could tickle him anytime we wanted and he wouls have to live with it. "Awe Mom, they would never do that," he giggled. "Okay lets get this over with, let's get it wrapped up." He really regretted those words when the doctor told him he had to keep the splint on for 4-6 weeks.

Today Mr. Frogman is counting down the days until the day he can take the splint off and only wear a wrist brace. Tonight before bed he announced only 3 more days left to take this stinking splint off. I am not sure if he was being literal or if he was calling the splint stinking out of spite.

Only a few more days...

Happy Thanksgiving 2006!

Thanksgiving, a time to enjoy family and friends. Talk about a good day. Nothing like taking a half of a day off of work to make all the desserts for family. I cook desserts each year for my family. Everyone brings something. I bring many things. This year I cooked but yet I cheated a bit as well. I make all the pumpkin pies for my family, plus many other desserts. Ok I said that many times.

I made 6 pumpkin pies, bought one huge "death by chocolate" chocolate cake from Costco, and made tons of cookies. Ok so I cheated there a bit this year too...

I bought Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough and Wolfman did a great job baking them up this year since he had the patience to deal with an oven that wasn't working. I managed to bake pumpkin pies in the oven since you really can't mess them up unless you burn them.

I had planned for about 30 and we had several people no show this year. Without any kids for the holiday it made it only the adults. Mr. Frogman spent the holiday with his dad and returns on the Sunday following. Monkey Dude Junior spent the holiday weekend with his great grandparents in Portland. Leaving Little Sister, Wolfman and myself home with no one to take care of but ourselves. I finally got to get some sleep!! Some much needed long awaited only one night of 8 hours of continuous uninterrupted Sleep!

Thanksgiving consisted of all of my siblings, my grandmother, Wolfman and Little Sister, Sight See'r joined us this year as well. It was a small gathering but a good one.

Good Food, Good Company...It was all good!

**Update** Read All About It!

Mr. Frogman Survives!

He makes it out of the permeated, stench filled air with very little air left in his lungs and only a matter of seconds before he passes out from Wolfmans lack of ability or want to hold his natural gas. He felt Mr. Frogman deserved the punishment after all the times he has had to endure the joking and smells of the gasses that Mr. Frogman lets out on a whim.

Although it was a close call, Mr. Frogman and Wolfman are learning how to work out their differences without using violent or extreme measures. Our house is continuously filled with laughter and many times different fumes of gas depending on the nature of the event and what was served for dinner.

Since the Last Time...

Mr. Frogman came back from his overnight at Boy Scout Camp this weekend. He and Wolfman had a good time going up there doing the guy thing.

We had an unusually great day. No fights between the kids a great dinner time. After dinner Mr. Frogman decided to regale the whole group in our home with the following tale:

"It was a dark and stormy night. The rain patted steadily against the roof and windows. The wind blew the branches against the house causing noises. The shutters crashed back and forth (we don't have shutters). The lightening flashed.

As Mr. Frogman laid in bed he could hear the the door slowly creak open. Soft footsteps stepped acorss the carpeted floor. The fort curtains parted, RRRRIIIIIPPPP!!!

Wolfman comes in and rips a good one! Then runs like crazy leaving Mr. Frogman in the bed to attempt to hold his breathe long enough to get out of the room and away from the smell that will soon permeate and cause him to pass out. Does he make it? Stay tuned!!"

Can you imagine how much laughter ensued in our house after this? They are still laughing reading this over and over....

Have a great night!

The Start of a New Challenge!!

That time of year has come around again for me to go into the meetings with the school and set up Mr. Frogmans IEP for the up and coming year that will lead him into Junior High or Middle School as some would refer to it.

I got a good taste of others opinions on how to "treat" autism. It has been recommended to me to start Mr. Frogman on medication the reasoning being "My child responds real well to that." To what being doped up to conform to what society wants???

To hell with that. My child will be raised to have the best in life for him. NOT for what society wants. It leaves me angry that others, who have never met my child, "think" they know what is best for him.

Let me step back a moment as just the thought of a few of the conversations I had still make me angry. It is either ignorance or incompetence or alot of both.

I have researched autism, and the possible leads to "cures". Which in my opinion there is no cure. I have found in our home that we are not searching for a cure, we are searching to ensure our quality of life is positive and making Mr. Frogman more independent in his own life by providing him with the tools necessary at his own pace to make him a unique and independent individual.

Stepping back further. I recently went in to have the annual IEP meeting at his school. Mr. Frogman has anger issues. Not anger management and he doesn't lash out. When he goes over a situation that has made him angry a week later or a month or even in a case or two a year later he gets almost as upset as the day it happened. His hands ball into fists, his voice gets mean, his jaw clenches and he is internally angry. When we discuss it out he is fine and things are back to his regular business. If he were to tell the story again he again becomes angry with fists clenching and so on.

I am searching for resources to help him, social groups, play groups, even a child psychologist as someone to talk to to get his frustration out and help him let the anger go. Techniques that just aren't working for mom. As I started to make a few phone calls and research places that offer services to children with autism for anger and contacting the references they gave me or other parents to talk to in a support group, I found the world I didn't want to be involved in. Maybe I know now where Mr. Frogman gets it and it's not just him who needs to let go of the anger.

Incompetence and ignorance irritate me to no end. People who can't open their mind to even listen annoy me, usually this is only when they are one sided I don't bother taking the time to explain or give an opinion as by that point they are not worth the time.

The one thing that truly amazes me is the fact that, in my opinion there is a very special child in their life and they have them so drugged up they don't even know they exist. I know I am probably wrong here but that is the impression after speaking with 3 families in this program that has now got me so turned off that I don't want to have anything to do with it.

I posted on my support groups web site today and of course received what is in my opinion some wonderful feedback even from the parents that have taken a different course of working with their child and handling autism.

Ok so mom needs to let go of the anger a bit too. I have been dealing with his autism since he was diagnosed 6 years ago. I knew something was askew when he was an infant but no one would test him until he was 5. I knew I didn't have the perfect child and when diagnosed already had instinctively taken steps to keep things steady in his world. We didn't have to change much in our lives after his diagnosis but what we did have to change made a huge difference to the positive in our life.

The goals he faces and accomplishes after mainstream school are minor. Most parents of an 11 or 12 year old don't even think about this most of the time. Mr. Frogman has an issue with going to the bathroom. Not with actually going but using too much toilet paper, but then what kid didn't? Well, Mr. Frogman when he goes....he goes...so I have taught him when he is going to flush the toilet a time or two or three to ensure the toilet doesn't plug. Even after using paper.

Now he is headed into Junior High or Middle School depending on how it is referred to in your district. I have had to work at home and with his team at school on independence, responsibility, accountability and the bathroom issue. Which is what we have been working on for quite some time but really focusing on the final pieces now.

How quickly the emotions change from thinking of ignorance and stupidity to Mr. Frogman and how far he has come in the past few years. The joy he brings to everything around me and how much joy everything he does brings joy to him. How much each day I leave work in the thought that I am headed home to be with him and find out how his day was. To pester him about homework and have our quality time.

**Sigh** The huge joys of life.

Good Monday Morning!

Okay after a good yet short nights sleep I am up and ready. Only an hour to go and the work day commute begins. Time to get the kids up and running and making sure everyone is ready to wake up this morning.

I know I didn't want to get up and out of bed this morning. After a very long soak in the hot tub and watching the raccoons pillage through the yard for worms it was quite interesting. I was watching this animal not 10 feet from where I was sitting in the hot tub that was bigger than my last cat. Dog gone those animals get big!

I know we have wildlife here where we are from mice (not a preference of mine) to racoons, opossum, and an occassional coyote. I am sure when they start building houses in the large brush area across the street that we will have more critters come through but we will see what happens.

Okay on to start my day. Hopefully it won't be as long as some of the ones I have had recently. Wish me luck on no more overtime!!

Have a great day!!

Long Time Coming....

It's been a while since I last posted. My birthday to be exact. 3 weeks ago today. So many long hours at work. I had to give my manager an ultimatum. Hire someone or lose your final person. It takes 4 people to do what I do at work. I have been putting in 60+ hours at work per week for the last 8-12 weeks. I took time for Mr. Frogman and was at every Cross Country Meet. I was there for most Boy Scout Meetings. I became the committee chair for MonkeyDude Jr's cub scout pack, recruitment chair for Mr. Frogmans Troop. (Yes, there is a difference. Boy Scouts are Troops, Cub Scouts are packs). It is amazing the terminology difference. It's definitely an education.

I received recently top honor awards at work. Yes the overtime checks are fantastic and can be used at this time. But when you think about it, what does it really mean? Within the company you have a piece of paper that says you achieved more than the next person. When you leave the company what does it mean? Absolutely Nothing! The popular saying you hear is, "You never see a gravestone that says, I should have spent more time at work." As much as I can use the money as I am sure anyone can I don't need it. I don't need the loss of sleep. I don't need the stress. I don't need to lose any more time with Mr. Frogman.

When I approached my manager he looked at me and made a few comments and then went back to work. 3 days later a job offer was made to a part time assistant for my position. The down side is that she needed to give 2 weeks notice. I had 2 weeks left to work. She starts tomorrow!! After this week there is no more overtime. No more long hours. Cross Country for Mr. Frogman is now over so it is one more day I don't have to try to rearrange schedules and work split shifts. Although, no matter what happens I would bend over backwards to make sure he got to where he needed to go and do the things we have committed to.

The old 8-5 shift is something I am greatly looking forward to. Wish me luck in actually getting to it.

"Hey! How you doin'?"

That was last nights party theme amongst my small group. I went out to a party my exhusband was throwing. It was fantastic. Wolfman, Intimidator and Wolfmans cousin, Alaska man showed up. It was a halloween dress up party for adults only. Wolfman wnet as a cowboy, Intimidator showed up as a biker (pretty unique since he had ridden his motorcycle over) and Alaska man showed up as The Sheriff. Hubba hubba he looked good in his all black outfit and Sheriffs star. MMMMMmmmmmm... or should it be Yummmm....Not only that but Wolfman looked good as well. Intimidator would have looked better in his pirate costume. Although, he couldnt take it on the motorcycle.

I have to admit. I have missed my friend Intimidator. Since he started dating Grandma Girlfriend it hasn't been the same. In my opinion she is jealous and insecure when it comes to me. I am an independent individual with a wonderful son. I also have alot of things going for me as far as personality, positive attitude and being outgoing, opinionated, ornery, and humble. Okay now I am sounding egotistical but if you knew Intimidator you would understand. I had the guts to tell him a year ago how I felt about him and I was shot down. He chose Grandma Girlfriend which he is now paying the price for. What he doesn't realize is that I truly care. I care about what happens to them and how they feel Intimidator and his son. This isn't going to come out right. Maybe I care too much. Maybe my feelings haven't changed. Who knows?

I know how I feel, what I want and where I want to head....But it makes it hard as a good friend to watch my friend "claim" to be miserable but stay in the situation. I don't understand how someone can expose their child to what he keeps telling me about.

I stand firm on my belief that she is insecure and jealous of me. If she wasn't she would not have a problem with us being friends. Intimidator and I have been friends for the past 5 years. This past year has been tough. My one confidante I have not been able to confide in. Until last night. We both had had a few drinks, so did Wolfman and Alaska Man. It was like old times with Intimidator. I had not seen him really smile until last night. Not with the drinking but being free. Being able to be himself.

It hurt today when I took Intimidator Jr. to his dad. Intimidator was a completely different person. The person I hug when we see each other and hug when we leave was cool and aloof. Grandma Girlfriend was in the car. He wouldn't even give me a hug near her. It absolutely amazes me how...someone...who doesn't really care what others think really cares about what others think and will blow off a 5 year friend for a girlfriend he claims he is miserable with. I don't comprehend that. That's completely out of line for me since I understand most everything. Some people tend to underestimate me and my abilities. I don't believe I am misunderstanding this. Something to me doesn't quite add up.

Don't let my basic blog fool you. This is just basic "thoughts on paper" so to speak. It's my way of keeping what is most important to me in perspective which some people will see is friends and family.

The business I run with my ex husband, my job working as an administrative assistant and trying to publish a book with all the incompetent people I meet will be interesting to write about. I will eventually get around to it. I don't know how to explain how I am feeling. Hurt? Probably. It hurts that I feel I have lost my friend. Even though I haven't. He just can't be the person I know when she is around. Maybe I am only feeling this way because of the after effects of having a few drinks. The let down. But it can't be. I had a great day. Only when I took Intimidator Jr to his dad did all of these feelings hit me all at once.

Mr. Frogman and I drove around for a bit after that and had some good one on one time. He shared with me that he was glad to have his friend back that he had not seen for some time. It was good to be able to spend more time with him. Withall that happened this weekend he realized how much he cares. His exact words, "I like my friends so much! Mom we have so much fun when we are all together. You make us laugh when we play games. When can he come back over?" Of course we talked about all the funny stuff and reminisced about our weekend (mom reminiscing more than Mr.Frogman knew) and we had laughs of our own. What a way to end the weekend.

I am going to head out and sit and relax in the hot tub and ponder why this bothers me. I am sure I know, I am not yet ready to admit to it though.

Happy Birthday To Me!!

Yes, yes it is my birthday. I am turning 29 for the hmmmm... 7th time now? Good ol' 36! Mr. Frogman, Wolfman, Monkey Dude Jr., Trucker, Sightseer, Boomer, Little Red, Little Sister, and Alaska Man all had a really neat birthday dinner last night, the night before my birthday...

It was great. Then a small group of us headed out dancing for the night. What a great time it was! I havent been out that late in a while and it felt good to be out for a night.

So far this morning I have been kicked out of the kitchen and not allowed to help clean up from last night and told I have to sit. I suppose I can do that for a while anyway. After that I have to get up and do something. I can't sit around all day long and do nothing although that is what I would really like to do.

****SIGH****

It's all good!

Looking Back...

Thinking about the little things and looking back to how things with Mr. Frogmans school started and all of the school officials telling me I should have him medicated. He is hyper or he is way too distracted. Yet when I had him repeat what the teacher said for the last 5 minutes he would repeat it word for word including any comments by any student to answer questions, verbatim. This would baffle yet infurtiate school staff,Teachers, psychologists, special ed. No one had an answer. They recommended testing, during one parent meeting. I asked for what and they continued to tell me add or adhd.

Having worked with children for 14 years I knew that was not the case. I had already done the research but could not afford the independent psychologist testing without the help of my ex husband or Mr. Frogman's dad. I was finally able to convince Mr. Frogmans dad that we really needed this, he finally acquiesced.

One week later I was in the office of a psychologist recommended to me by other parents. She met with my son for a few hours and then we got to go home. A week later Mr. Frogman and I went back. As he politely requested to play the computer game again while the doctor and I talked. She agreed and he was off to the computer. The psychologist and I sat and talked. She explained what tests she ran. She went over the test results and showed where he didn't show ADD or ADHD but where the spectrum ran differently into the Autistic side. She continued on. All I could think of was, my son was autistic. What did that mean? What do I do? Who do I go to for help? What can I do for him? How will this change our life?

After some tears, and trying to explain to his dad who would not accept there was anything wrong and told me that I could handle this. I thought to myself of all times to really be a single parent. Who do you talk to? Who can you rely on? Who is going to support you through this emotionally? Where do you turn? What do I do now? It took me 24 hours to turn this thought process around. Within the next week I had done so much research on autism and the spectrum. Treatments and procedures, possible causes, attempted cures. I know I didn't get all the information. I did get enough how ever to know what I did or didn't want to do. I was not going to medicate my child or put him through many unneeded tests if there was no "cure" to autism. This is something we were going to live with and do what we could to make life the best for us.

Having ended a marriage where my husband made most of the decisions I was on my feet in full motion at this point. Was I going to fight or flight on this one. Of course being the mom I only wanted what was best for Mr. Frogman that was and is still the only thing that matters. If you met him on the street you would not know he was autistic he is high functioning. But if you meet with him one on one or in social or large group settings you will notice a big change. If you change the rules, not follow a schedule or routine thats when you will notice a huge difference in him, his attitude, behavior and attention span. He becomes quite different.

It was time for me to stop being teh behind the scenes mom to the parent at the forefront of the offensive lines. It took me about 20 minutes into the firt meeting to realize that I had to take charge. The first few school meetings were not good ones. Everyone kept treating me as though I didn't know what was going on. Below are the accounts of what happened in the third meting where for me at that time a light bulb came on and enough for me was enough. It goes like this:

All names have been changed so as not to jeopardize anyones position.

SCHOOL

Have you ever had a time when someone gets between you and your child or your way of doing things? Usually it is a government office or the school district in my case they are almost one in the same. In the past year my son was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, which is a form of Autism. In order to best suit his needs I met with the school to see what programs were available to him. Over the course of his life as we went through I made sure to engage him in activities to keep him calm and kept him on a routine which I found he took to very well. As with any school system they recommend programs that they feel will best suit the child’s needs. The school psychologist and I since I was in high school (as he was my high school psychologist too) never got along. He always thought, in my opinion, that I may have needed help. With my brother having set the standard by being as active and outgoing and crazy acting as he could be, it gave me a lot to have to correct and live up to. He was a tough act to follow.

Going into the meeting not only had the school psychologist not had in front of him my sons diagnosis of which I had provided for them a few months prior so that I could get my son the help he needed through the district, he did not keep current on everything that was going on. When I walked into this meeting I felt like it was me against everyone. His first grade teacher was pushing for putting him on some sort of medication. The nurse wanted me to check out various other activities that could possibly help. Everyone had their own opinion of what they wanted for my son and they felt that what they wanted was what was best for him. I did not agree.

As his father and I agreed when we separated that I would take on the task of making sure I provided for his education and well being as far as what he needed with his diagnosis and if I needed anything to just ask. As his father he would step in and help provide for his son as necessary.

I went into this meeting and felt as though I was up against the world. But felt that I had all the power as this was my child and who to best make the decisions for him but me. I kept that in the forefront of my mind as this meeting started. The nine people around the table wanted what was best for my son and felt that what they wanted was right. I listened as each person who was involved with my son in some way or another at school gave their input. Then the school psychologist looked at me and asked me to sign some forms. I was looking at them and I looked up and asked what these were. As I had started to read he explained that they were the classes they wanted to place my son in over the next year. I looked them over then asked what kind of schedule this was going to create for him, as my son thrived on a set routine and schedule. It was set up something like this: Every Monday he would attend a friendship group from 11:30 to 12:00 and have lunch, Every Tuesday and Friday he would go to occupational therapy in the afternoon to work on his fine motor skills, Every Thursday he would go to another class of sorts to work on his large motor skills. Then Monday through Thursday he would attend another class after his lunch recess. Wednesday there was another class they wanted him to attend. At this point I was confused and going in circles as I had the normal daily classroom schedule as well and was trying to coordinate what he was going to miss there and what he would gain from doing all these classes. I made notes and wrote out his weekly schedule combined with what his classroom had planned each day and was trying to figure out how this was going to work. The more I tried to see how it was going to help the more I saw it hindering. The times they scheduled for him interfered with the things at school that he looked forward to.

For a child who needed a set routine I was confused. How was he to have a set routine with this kind of schedule and be part of his regular class at the same time? Just reading over it had my mind going in circles.

The school psychologist handed me a pen and said if you will just sign right here Mrs. Murphy we can get things set up. I took the pen and looked at the sheet sitting in front of me. My mind was running and he wasn’t scoring any points with my trying to rush me into signing the forms. I was taking my time purposely when the psychologist pointed out the locations to sign which were plainly obvious. I’m sure he was thinking, “Boy is she slow.” When I looked up and put the pen down. He gave me a very curious look. I then looked at him and around the table and asked how much money is my sons’ diagnosis was bringing in to this school? They looked at me somewhat stunned. What they didn’t know is I had done my research on the district and what funds were available to them by the state and other sources for children with disabilities. The more I thought about all they were trying to have my son do the more I was thinking they were looking at the dollar signs.

The psychologist hadn’t realized I was getting angry with what they were hurriedly trying to push thinking I didn’t know any better. I asked many questions and had done extensive research finding I had already done a lot of the things necessary for my son to deal with his disability. I had him involved in activities that had clearly defined rules and boundaries. I had him involved in social groups that kept him interacting with other children his age. I had it set in my mind what would be best for him and what I felt he needed. As I started to say something I was immediately interrupted by the psychologist who again stated, “Mrs. Murphy, we have designed a plan that we feel will most appropriately meet your sons needs. If you will just sign here…” At that point I interrupted him. I asked him how much one on one time he has had to spend with my child. He responded with, “I have spent about 2 hours a week with your child over the past month working with him on skills to see what level he is at.” I just nodded and became even more frustrated but didn’t say anything else as of yet. The meeting was going on longer than they had anticipated and I hadn’t signed the forms yet. I looked up at him and stated because he had spent 8-10 hours over the course of a month with my child that told him he knew what was best? “Mrs. Murphy, I do have a Masters Degree in Child Psychology so I would think I would know what I am talking about.” It was the wrong thing to say to an already frustrated person. I’m sure by this point they could see the frustration on my face. So I looked at him and said, “And I don’t know what I am talking about? I have spent the last 8 years with my child. I know likes, dislikes, things that set him off and keep him calm, the age group he prefers to socialize in. I can read his feelings and keep him on an even keel with a positive attitude and allowing him hands on learning. Do you think I do not know what is best for him?”

At this point the principal who was sitting quietly at the end of the table sat up and was listening intently to the conversation. I believe he sensed my frustration and could see I was reaching my boiling point. The psychologist went on about what was best for my child and how with his Masters Degree gave him the knowledge to know how to work with and what was in the best interests of children. As he was going on I was becoming angry. I had just been insulted. I interpreted what he was saying was I was a mom without a degree in psychology that it meant I didn’t know anything nor did I know what was best for my child. While the psychologist was talking the principal called out his name lightly, then again a second time a little more loudly. When the psychologist looked at him he stated that I think we need to give Ms. Mohar some time to think about the decision she is about to make for her son. The psychologist looked at me again and stated, “Mrs. Murphy, do you need any of these things explained to you?” I looked up at him and met his gaze. In a very calm voice I said to him with teeth clenched, “Number one, there is only one person in this room who has gotten my name correct. If you were aware of what you are doing you would have realized along time ago that my name is no longer Murphy. If you look at all the contact paperwork in front of you, you will see that the last name is Mohar. Number two, I have understood and interpreted every word you have said very clearly you do not have to treat me as though I am a child. He then went on and stated that if I knew what was best for my child I would sign the form. I at that point stood up as did the principal and he went to say something and I looked at him and said I will say what I have to say first. I took the form he had given me and torn it in half in front of him. No one else around the room had said a single word during this time period. I looked at him and said that I would make the decisions for my child and what I was seeing was not in my child’s best interests it looked as though it was in the schools best interests financially. The psychologist then stood up and said that he would know what was best he had a Masters Degree in Psychology. I looked directly at him and stated that I may not have a Masters Degree in Psychology but I do a document that would supercede his Masters Degree, I have a birth certificate with mine and my sons name on it and until his name was on that certificate, which would only happen over my dead body, I would be the one responsible for making the decisions that were in my child’s best interests. I stated exactly what classes I wanted my son in and after looking at the schedule his teacher had provided and the class times they were offering I had, during all of this, put together a schedule for my son that was consistent and gave him the necessary tools that I could not give him at home. I then walked out of the meeting stating that I would call them to reschedule any meetings necessary and I would be contacting each of them individually. I would under no certain circumstances meet with the school psychologist again.

The principal followed me out of the meeting and stated that he knew there was conflict with the psychologist and I from the beginning. I looked at him and stated again when it comes to the well being of my child I am not one to be reckoned with. He laughed and very quietly stated that he had been waiting for someone to knock him down a bit he was too big for his britches. But most parents feel because he is educated they can’t argue with him. I told him that I may not have a degree but again I do have a birth certificate and that far outweighs his degree. I also am not stupid and to be treated as such does not fly with me. He chuckled and said apparently so. Two days later the principal invited me in to another meeting where we sat down and again went over the classes they wanted to have my son attend. I had had ample time to go over my sons daily schedule with his teacher as well as what programs were going to best work with the Occupational Therapy Teacher as well as the Special Education Teacher, Reading Specialist and Nurse with time to go over what I could do at home to best work with him. We again had the same group meet to go over the classes.

The school Psychologist was again in this meeting and again attempted to try to get me to sign the form with all the classes. I looked at him and put my hand up, which immediately silenced him. He was not going to get away with running this meeting. It was my turn. I looked around the table and thanked everyone for coming. I then wrote on the form that I was too sign, the class schedule that worked best for my son. I had managed to get him into classes Monday through Friday in the same room at the same time of day but with the different instructors. Mondays he would join the friendship group for lunch and then meet with the Special Education teacher for his writing and problem solving social skills. Tuesday through Thursday he kept the same schedule with the Special Education Teacher at the same time of day to handle the transitions and go over his writing skills. Then on Fridays he would meet with the Occupational Therapist who would work on his Large and fine motor skills testing and send home a report to me so that I could work on specific activities with him over the course of the next week.

The school psychologists face turned beat red. I then looked at him to try and make the point hit home much further to him as I’m sure it already had. I said to the group that it had taken me approximately 2 hours to look over his schedules and the needs that needed to be met and a few phone calls to see if this was doable. After talking with everyone and the wonderful cooperation on behalf of all involved we managed to work out a schedule that included the teachers and me in meeting the needs of my son. Amazing how far a birth certificate will get you in life.

This is one of the many stories I have written. Many of them humorous about the simple things in our life. I found this to be one of the harder ones but Mr. Frogman is and always will be worth the fight. I know he is not as "autistic" as I was told the other day. He is autistic only high functioning although not all attributes show up at school we see alot more at home where he is more comfortable in his environment to share his feelings and some behaviours. We have alot of structure and routine. When Mr. Frogman does homework so does mom. I can't leave the homework table until he is done. He has to read for 3o minutes. Dinner always comes before reading time not after. We are pretty stuck to our routine. It is difficult to explain but I am pretty sure most of you know what I am talking about. We have our share of outbursts and tantrums, social ineptness plus much more. But I am blessed to have him just the way he is.

The Little Things!

I had someone comment that my blog is boring. So be it, it's boring. I could sit and talk about corporate taxes for a small S-Corp company but what fun would that be? Besides, I would not post information about my company online. I would be a fool! Not only that what would be the point of posting about my full time job at a mortgage company as well? I would sound as though I was whining. Usually when I complain about my job that's all it is is whining.

I would prefer to laugh at the little things. Let me share one of these moments of the "Little Things". Mr. Frogman for those that don't remember or don't know is Autistic. For Mr. FM to show emotion is very rare. About 2 years ago we were visiting our friends Intimidator and his son Intimidator Jr. As we were leaving for the evening I looked at Mr. Frogman and said, "You need to say good bye." All of a sudden Mr. Frogman turned around and hugged Intimidator. I took a shocking step backwards. Intimidator and my eyes met, he saw the look of shock and realized what had just happened. Mr. Frogman had made a huge step in showing feelings and emotions. Without coercion he showed affection for someone other than a parent. Intimidator felt very priveledged that Mr. FM would show the affection to him. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes and see his mist over as well. He shook his head no to indicate to me not to cry, I was so happy.

This may not seem like much to anyone but for us it was a huge break through. He was opening up to other people. These little things are what we look for on a daily basis.

The happenings of my business, getting my book published, or even my job are nothing in comparison to my son being able to live his life day to day and focus on what is important, family, friends, sense of humor and the basics. We take our days one step at a time and one day at a time.

Oh no! Not Again?!?!?

Mr. Frogman came home today, he and Monkey Dude Jr (MDJ) had a good time at his dad's. They were demonstrating when I got to his dads to pick him up how to jump 10 feet down from the top of the swing set to the ground. Wow! Nothing like an emergency room visit waiting to happen. My only thought was, "Get down before you hurt yourself or you break something!!" Instead of reacting that way what I said to him was, "I know you can jump down from there but I would prefer at this time if you didn't." He immediately saw my reaction and climbed much lower and then jumped I'm sure to make me happy and keep me from panicking too much at him jumping.

We again sat down to dinner only to have someone at the table decide to make bodily function noises at the table. Mr. Frogman sat there and smirked and then broke out laughing completely. No one knew what was funny until we started to sniff and all of a sudden almost everyone had to leave the table. I couldnt believe it he had us leaving the table! I finally when everyone stopped choking and laughing asked him what he had had at his dad's house. He replied, "Chili!" I laughed as I had served home made chili for dinner. I couldnt believe it. I was going to have to deal with him passing gas for the next few days with all the beans he ate in the lasat 2 days. It will be a never ending session of bodily function noises.

Trucker came over to visit this weekend for his once a week, while he is at home visits. I sure miss seeing him home more than this. We used to have some really good conversations when I lived in his house. Now, we still have good conversations it just seems short since we aren't under the same roof. Although he sure misses Mr. Frogman a lot. Mr Frogman used to run out the door when Trucker would come home in his large truck and wait for him to park and just watch in awe as the big sleeper truck would pull into the driveway. Now that Trucker has to park his truck in a permitted lot Mr Frogman can't see it as often. Although it didn't diminish Mr. Frogman's excitement to see his Uncle tonight. He sure missed him.

I took Mr. Frogman over to his grandparents to pick up his clarinet. They wanted to do something for their grandchildren for school this year. Being that the older 2 are taking band they wanted to rent their instrument for the year. They picked it up today and I took Mr. Frogman over to pick it up. As he got out of the car he was giggling and he shut the door to the car quickly and ran to his grandma (his dad's mom and dad) and gave her a big hug. He is as tall as she is right now. As he ran to her he was giggling and I didn't know why. After we spent a few minutes visiting as it was late, we went to leave. I climbed into the car only to have to suddenly role down the windows. Mr. Frogman broke into laughter. I had to drive with the windows down for a good 2 minutes to clear the air. Mr. Frogman finally admitted he had passed gas in the car before he got out and that it still smelled by the time we got back into the car. He kept laughing as I tried to breathe. You would think he could wait until he got out of the car...but noooooo....he had to leave it all in the car. He must have laughed halfway home. Not only that but he laughed at grandmas and grandpas too as he had let loose there and no one said anything. We all just kept stepping away from Mr. FM.

I guess this is something I am just going to have to get used to. You would think Iwould be used to it by now. **Sigh** Not yet....

Stunningly Amazing...

After our history, even though we are still friends, my ex husband and Mr. Frogmans dad (one in the same) sometimes absolutely amazes me. Last night, Friday, Mr. Frogmans dad Septic Man came to pick him up for his weekend stay at his house. It's an every other weekend occurance. Not only did he want Mr. Frogman but he invited Monkey Dude Jr too! Suddenly Wolfman, Little Sister and I are at home and we can't think of a spur of the moment thing to do. As we sat there discussing it, my only thought was that I wanted to sleep. I had been up since 4:30 in the morning, at work since 7am and finally off work at 6:30pm and home by 7pm. As we sat in the living room pondering what to do, Wolfmans cousin came over to visit for a bit. During his visit I put him in contact with my brother Trucker, since they both like to ride motorcycles and he wanted to see if he wanted to go for a ride. It was all good and I told him to call me back sometime tonight.

I decided by 10pm my day was over. I climbed into bed after a 20 minute hot tub soak and went to sleep. I woke up suddenly to my cell phone ringing. My brother Trucker was calling and it was a quarter to 12. My own fault I told him to call me anytime that night and he did. We talked about his week and then hung up. I curled up under the soft, warm fuzzy, very inviting blankets and put my head on the pillow and I was out.

What seemed like only minutes later my phone was ringing again. Who would be calling me at midnight I thought? I looked down at the phone and it was my baby sister. If she was calling something was wrong. She would never call me in the middle of the night unless it was an emergency. I missed the call and called her right back. She was in tears. She needed me to come and pick her up. When I asked her where she was she didn't know, all she knew is that she had gotten into a fight iwth a friend and the friend clocked her good in the eye, the fire department and police department were there and they needed someone to come and pick her up. I asked her to hand her phone to the nearest person fire or police. They told me her location and I set out. Wolfman had heard the phone ring and part of the conversation and volunteered to come along to drive her car home.

I had thought it was about 12:30 am and looked at the clock when I climbed into the car. It was 3:30 am! I felt like Mr.Frogman at dinner wearing the invisible cape and holding the sword shouting, "Here I come to save the day!" Big sister to the rescue.

Come to find out she had been drinking and her and her friend from kindergarten had gotten into a fight. Good Ol' Cat Fight between 2 girls who were drunk. I finally got her home and managed to drag my sorry back end back to bed by 5:30am after another 20 minute soak in the hot tub to relax again. And here I thought I was going to get to sleep in with no kids at home to wake me up to the sound of cartoons Saturday morning. Although after last night I would have rather dealt with that than someone drunk and puking.

As I headed into work this morning, yes yes I had to work today too, I called Mr.Frogmans dad to arrange pick up of Monkey Dude Jr. It was all set, we were to go out to the house, have dinner with their family and get MDJ and come home. I would pick up Mr. FM tomorrow so he would have one more day with his dad.

I headed out to pick up Monkey Dude Jr from my ex husbands house tonight when I get a call that says he is asking to stay another night. Wolfman of course agrees as he knows he is having fun. We sit here again wondering what to do or if we should attempt another good night's sleep. I will sit here and ponder a bit more and see what happens. The hot tub beckons again....Ohhh a massage sounds so good too! Hmmmmm.....Wolfman what are you up to???? ;)

Daily Dose of Dinner

We now have dinner around the table so we can talk about our day and what has happened or what is happening during the week or weekend. The current topic is the camp out coming up for Boy Scouts. Sheriff joined us last night for a Boy Scout Patrol meeting and dinner. We do this every Tuesday (and this week on Thursday). In return Notyouraveragemom--Sheriff's mom, will take Mr. Frogman home once a week after Acting Class on Tuesdays. So once again this year Tuesdays will be our busiest day of the week. Acting Class, Boy Scouts, Cross Country, No band on Tuesdays his days have changed Woohoo! And of course school. These are all the activities Mr. Frogman has chosen to want to participate in, nothing encouraged by mom. He told me he was going to do them and I explained that I had to arrange transportation. I made arrangements with work and Sheriffs mom so we exchange time and she is always more than willing to help out.

We were all sitting down to dinner last night. Chicken patties, mac n cheese, green beans, milk, pickles and olives on the side. Oh yeah and Mr. Frogmans favorite pepperacinis. As we sat talking about the school year with Sheriff and Mr. Frogman and Monkey Dude Jr. the topic of conversation turned to, what else? Bodily Function noises. Go figure only 4 boys around the table I was quite out numbered. Although it came to laughing so much, I still don't think from what I have been told that they will grow out of finding bodily function noises funny. Eventually Mr. Frogman finished his dinner, excused himself and showed up with a blanket tied around like a cape and his Star Wars light up light saber and announces with Fan Fare (Da da da dunt da dah!) "Here I come to save the day! I will fight off all farts, burps and tummy grumbles." All fo a sudden he pulled out a can of lysol smelly spray and says, "Okay now I am fully armed." We all started laughing and he stood there with a completely straight face in a heroes stance ready to save the world from bodily function smells. Amazing what they think of.

Sweeeeeet! Peace

It has been a while since I heard this sound at home. This is my first morning at home this week where I have not rushed out the door at 5:30 am to get Wolfman to work by his scheduled time and then myself into work 2 hours early. I got Wolfman to the bus at 5:30 instead and came home to have a few minutes to myself before the hustle and bustle begins. Sweet silence.

It's amazing what 20 minutes to yourself does for your whole day. Peace and quiet, news on in the background to get caught up on the daily headlines, cup of fresh brewed Starbucks coffee (my youngest sister works there have to support her) Yes yes it's decaf! I am still having to pretend it's not so my body will think it's getting it's caffeine rush. Besides I add enough milk to make it more of a mocha without the chocolate (chocolate not my favorite).

It is sooooo nice to sit here not having to listen to Mr. Frogman and MonkeyDude Jr. argue over whether or not a hand towel found in the laundry is mine or Wolfmans. Amazing the small things they argue over.

I am noticing the sounds of the house. We have been in this house for 6 weeks and I am learning the sounds when a car drives by, the wind blows, when it rains, the hot tub, dryer vent outside, and now the buzzing of alarm clocks as they start to go off. Little Sisters goes off first. She gets up at 6am on schedule so she is ready if I have to leave for work early to get the boys up and out of bed. I am so lucky to have her here. This is a 500% improvement over where she was living and I prefer her to be near me adn Wolfman than living in a room to rent in what I consider the slum area of North of Seattle. It works for her so she is close to her family (She is Wolfmans sister and Monkey Dude Jr's aunt) and it works for Wolfman and me as far as getting the kids onto the bus. We don't have to use daycare any longer and pay out the kazzu for that for either one of the kids. Mr. Frogman is old enough that he doesn't need daycare and can get himself on and off the bus (he is responsible enough too but still) I was not ready to have him do that this year. He will be headed off to **(dare I say it again?)** Junior High next year...and he will have to be getting himself up and going.

There goes Mr. Frogmans alarm...it's only a matter of time. He has to take some time to wake up and get going. He is a slow starter but once he starts he is going and going. Monkey Dude doesn't get up for another hour yet. I make sure he gets more sleep, he seems to need it.

It's on to another fun day!

School Follow Ups!

The first day of school was fantastic. Mr. Frogman and Monkeydude Jr would not let either Wolfman or myself in the front door until we heard in detail about their day at School.

Mr. Frogman is so excited. One more year and off to Middle School or Junior High (whatever they call it now) he goes. He is so growing up.

He has a teacher at school Mrs. P. She has been with him since the 4th grade. This year she is only with him 2 days a week. I so miss her and all our conversations.

The Sheriffs Mom and I are finally catching up after a long summer of not being able to get together. Curriculum night was tonight and I found Mr. Frogmans desk with no issue. I sat down and of course The Sheriff and Mr. Frogman get to sit next to one another (they are the closest of friends at school). I asked both Sheriffs mom with a grin and a giggle if that was a wise decision. She laughed with me. We know how they are together.

Mr. Frogman has 2 male teachers. He is so excited about this year and how things are going to go. He gets to comment on his teachers website and parents have access to go in and read. I can see he is going to do great things both this year and in the future. Considering I am really scared for next year. I think mom has more trepidation for what is to come than he does.

**SIGH**

They grow up so fast.....He is now almost as tall as me and I am 5'10"

Funny story of the night...things I would never expect from Mr. Frogman...

Sitting around the table tonight (most of these things happen around the dinner table) we have been discussing jokes getting old and dying. When they die it's time to stop telling these jokes and put them to rest.

Wolfman was teasing Little Sister about trying to ask me a question over dinner (I don't even remember what the question was) he kept interrupting and saying, "Huh? What? What'd ya say?"

He wore it out time and again. It was funny for the first few times but got old rather quickly. Mr. Frogman looked at Wolfman and said, "It's time to put it to rest." Then he proceeded to pretend to play a trumpet and play the song you would play at a funeral (Taps?) to lay someone to rest before the gun salute (for those that have earned that salute). I don't remember off the top of my head what it's called. I started laughing as I was not expecting him, after our discussion of putting jokes to rest, to play that song.

I have to start making notes at dinner to remember all the good laughs we have. We are having a great time.

There is more to come and I will try to post on a regular basis.

I'm Back and ALL is well...

I have gotten all my test results in. There is nothing to worry about. All these lumps are a combination of a few things. Somewhat embarrassing but still just things.

The lump they biopsied came out to be benign! You can bet I sighed a huge sigh of relief hearing that. Although they found a few blood clots that a little blood thinner could cure for a short time. Nothing major. Just have to make sure I don't hit myself too hard on anything and cause bruises. Besides the one lump of several they biopsied, the other lumps were swollen glands and a staff infection of sorts. One of the worst kinds. I am still on antibiotics almost 17 days later. It is pretty much gone but I am finishing off this set.

Of all the "lumps" they have removed one and the others are optional. Being that the others can't be seen I am not too worried about them at this time until I drop another 100 pounds (I've dropped 120 in the past 3 years its time for the final 100) I am told that will help with some of the issues I have had in the past.

All is well, I am sleeping at night again after of course 12 hour days and all the good news...In our world though we are only able to look at the positive since I have been through looking at worst possible case scenario and I only prefer to look at the positive.

Speaking of positive we are headed up to the hot springs in another week for a 2.5 mile hike in and a 2.5 mile hike out. It's a very easy hike but a great get a way for everyone. Traveler, Wolfmans Cousin, Alaska Man, and myself are headed up and out. Finally a nice getaway from the busy ness of life. I am so looking forward to it.

By the way we are having a final garage sale of the season. I have lots of stuff that needs to go. If you are looking for anything specific let me know. I might have it. I do not however have much kids stuff, I have furniture, fishtanks and miscellaneous stuff! Ok enough with the sales pitch. :)

Alot more work to be done.

**UPDATE**

For those that are going to ask...Yes I was scared waiting for the biopsy. I did lose sleep but not as much as I will be accused of :) As Intimidator keeps telling me and I really should learn to listen to him and I quote, "Nothing is going to happen. You are too stubborn and ornery for anything to happen." He knows me quite well, I suppose I should listen to him...I just find it more fun to debate with him and make him think I don't listen :)

Work, work and more work...

That seems to be the title of the week. Work, work and more work. We had a challenge at my office this week. For my company we have 2 branch offices one upstairs from the other. My office was opened 3 years ago and the office upstairs 2 years ago. We are the top producing branches nationwide so the expectations for our offices are higher than others for production.

Recently the part time administrative assistant (AA) left to pursue her choice of careers with a large hotel chain. The full time AA took a full time job elsewhere and moved into the part time position in her office. For 2 weeks now they have had no one so as the full time AA downstairs I was relied on to do the work of both offices. It wasn't bad just busy and a lot of prioritizing. Myself and my part time AA were quite busy with the constant work load. Although it was easy enough to do it was time consuming.

My part time AA after a confrontation with a co worker gave her 2 weeks notice this last Wednesday and decided she was not going to come back on Thursday or ever again except to get her things. Which left my manager panicked. Not that I mind the overtime, I don't but when I have to work 8am to 8pm with little to no break, and then be back at work at 8am again and work straight through until 5pm again with no break it gets tiring. Now I am not complaining as I know there are many people out there who work more hours and do alot more than I do. Again not that I mind the overtime. But this is going to be the case until they hire someone new that I can train.

Usually my work days on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are extremely busy, usually Thursday and Friday are extremely slow. This week however each day was extremely busy. I had the new full time AA start on Thursday and I was swamped training her and doing the workload of 2. Friday she was able to pick up more of the tasks but it was still a challenge. It won't be so bad soon she will be able to take on all the tasks she is to do but until then I will pick up the pieces. This weekend I am taking some time to relax and do alot of the things I enjoy doing.

Like freezing and canning peaches, making my homemade seedless blackberry jam (maybe), making banana and zucchini bread, possibly chocolate chip cookies, definitely peanut butter cookies and who knows what else. You wouldn't think this would be relaxing but being that I enjoy it, it is. What a way to relax huh?

The other item is my sister is going to come over later tonight and Wolfmans cousin adn we are going to hang out, play cards and just BS. Our social groups are small and this is one way for us to stay at home and relax and still have a good time.

Ok..I will be off shortly to start cooking, baking, freezing, and canning.

It's Friday!! It's Friday!!

It's the Friday before a long 3 day Holiday weekend. I am sitting in the living room, with the news in the background that I am not even interested in listening to. Mr. Frogman left with his dad last night for an extended weekend. I think I am over tired, getting up at 4:30 am is taking its toll today.

I decided not to go out of town this holiday weekend. Since Mr. Frogman isn't home I am going to get caught up on some work. I have corporate taxes to finish, a room to get finished being unpacked. A short hike later in the weekend will be good. Hmmmm...I think the hot springs could be calling again. A Hike around Deception Pass. Just a night out playing pool, darts and karaoke with some friends might be a good change of pace too. That list of things to do this weekend is suddenly getting longer. I knew it wouldn't take me long, its a pretty good distraction.

I get test results back today. I don't think there is anything wrong, but there is always that small doubt in the back of my mind. It's not something I have been thinking about, but its been on the back burner for a few days now. At least they won't make me wait through the holiday weekend before they tell me. :)

The thought of having to get ready for work is a dreadful thought today. I don't want to get out from under this fuzzy green blanket and put my feet on the cold hard wood floors. Just the thought of getting going is a challenge. I really and truly don't want to move. Call it 4:30 wearing me thin, call it Friday call it whatever you would liek to. I think I am ready for a day off.

Okay okay its time for me to move my lazy back end and head off to the great blue yonder (yes the hallway leading up the stairs is blue and it leads to yonder room)...So great blue yonder here I come...

Have a great day!!