Awakenings

Poor Vin.

 He has a horrible time falling and staying asleep every night (as do a lot of children on the Autism Spectrum). 

If I am being honest, this really has been every night since he was about six months old actually. 

Today he woke up coughing ( from the hand foot and mouth disaster going around his school) at 3:30 am. Having had very little sleep myself I was a little (a lot) less than understanding. After I got over myself the little guy says "I don't want to sleep, I'm afraid of my dreams." 

This is devastating to me because I have been suffering from terrible dreams my entire life and also because we have to give him melatonin to help him fall asleep and the side effect is shitty dreams.  I don't want to medicate him right now because he gets too violent on the age appropriate meds for ADHD. 

I need another me to take him out running or climbing to help him work out some of the stuff that keeps his body going at full speed 24 hours a day. Obviously that isn't going to happen, so I've got to figure this out.

 Of course it is now 4:30 in the morning and I can't even figure out how to get through the day without falling asleep standing up...

                 Capt'n Wide Awake

Its not unusual

I can't sleep. Yesterday, as I was cleaning the nonsense off of my entry porch in an attempt to be able to walk out the door I discovered this:

Okay, so truthfully, I yanked a section of the nasty indoor outdoor carpeting up (in a state of complete disgust at the previous owners of the house for putting carpeting in a three season porch) in hopes of finding a useable subfloor and instead found dreamy tiles. 

Our house has been a nightmare of beautiful flooring hidden under super glued indoor/outdoor carpeting. When we moved in there was nary an inch of flooring (bathroom and kitchen included) not covered in the crap. 

The porch carpeting is so nasty that in some spots it looks like just mud. It makes me instantly angry every time I open the door actually, so you can believe me when I say I did the Carlton and cursed old Ruth and Cederic (the carpet lovers of yore) with the foulest words I could think of.

http://youtu.be/5XhDg6zcJYI

So now I can't sleep. I am thinking of how lovely it will be to step onto a porch free of a congealed grime rug. I want to paint the walls (which are dark brown splintery wood paneling) and the door and make it a spot we can actually use instead of just a hot stinky mess. 

This is the stuff dreams-or rather, early morning blog posts, are made of.

 

Up And At Them!

I have neglected my dream of becoming Norma Arnold for far too long, and I am now back on the hoss. I promise!  A lot of new things have come into my life in the past year and I am really thrilled to be able to blog about most of them!

I learned how to crochet last May, which  has been such an amazing thing for me. I hate making anything time consuming so I've been doing a lot of smaller projects like hats, some bags, and this amazing space themed mobile! I followed a pattern for it because whenever I try to wing these things they end up in the Goodwill bag... ("Let Arby's deal with it!")

Let's see, what else... We are adopting a Cows Milk Free-Gluten Free diet in our home. It started as a way to see what effect it would have on the boys behavior, and has turned into just a goal for the entire family.  So far we are dairy free totally, and working the gluten out as we speak.  We've also been juicing (vegetables mostly, not the 'roids, I'm onlyl 1/2 Italian) and so I hope to post some boastful stuff about that coming up! 

What else? Oh, I've started COUPONING! Yep, in an attempt to be completely middle aged I've just begun to dabble in the math laden world of coupons.  I don't plan on having a big stockpile, I really just want to save money on the crap that we *have* to buy. 

So for now that is what is going on. I've got to rescue the toddler from atop the kitchen table now.

Repost... Meeting Mickey Rooney

Meeting Mickey Rooney

**This meeting took place in October 2003, and was written in January of 2004- several months after meeting that old bastard Mickey Rooney*
So back in October I met Mickey Rooney… well, sorta…
There is a place called Spooky World in Foxboro MA. It sits behind the Patriots stadium in the woods… well, sorta… Anyway it’s open for Halloween season and they have rides and crappy spook houses that aren’t scary just pathetic… They also have a cool Halloween museum with vintage costumes, props etc… it’s really cool. They also have weekly guests… ususally B-grade movie stars, singers, etc… for example a few years ago my husband saw Tiny Tim there riding around on a motorized cart…
So this year I was perusing the Spooky World ads and noticed that old Mickey Rooney was on the schedule. I was floored. MICKEY ROONEY for cryin out loud… Mick of Mick and Joots (the names he and Judy Garland called eachother), Andy Hardy for goodness sake!!! I was out of my mind. So Jay and I gathered the $$ and time to spend the night in Foxboro with our friends John & Candis at the Holiday Inn Express, and I got a new winter jacket to wear… and I wore a cute white sweater with black flowers on it similar to the shirt Judy wore in one of her last movies w/ Mickey Rooney… and so we bundle up, pay $30 EACH to get “VIP” Tickets and enter the lack luster park. My main interest was Mr. Rooney, I really was not up for the rides or spook houses. So we get to the Museum and look at the cool stuff and I see the room where Mickey is signing autographs….
Now at this point, my stomach is doing kartwheels and I am only focused on meeting one the few remaning original MGM stars… I couldn’t stand myself, I was that anxious… so Jay told John & Candis that we were going to head to the autograph area and we’d meet them in a few minutes… So I’m 1 in line and shaking like a crack-deprived hoochie…
I can see Mr. Rooney and his wife at the table and I smile… no response… Then the guy from Spooky World turns on this mix tape of songs that Rooney sang in movies… Rooney is like, “HEY TURN THAT DOWN…” and makes a terrible face… I should have known something was up but I was star struck… I felt like Betty Thompson (the former Rockette who was the secretary at my elementary school in Candia, New Hampshire) in 1939 when she saw Judy & Mickey in NYC… ANYWAY they opened the gate and ushered Jay and I to the merch table where you HAD TO PURCHASE SOMETHING FOR HIM TO SIGN… I picked out my FAVORITE black and white glossy of Mickey playing a little cello and Judy singing… it’s adorable… especially Judy… what an actress… ANYWAY… I get to the table, look into Rooney’s eyes and say…
“I can not believe I finally get to meet you… I am sooo nervous….”
NO RESPONSE FROM ROONEY… HE STUFFS A HANDFUL OF POPCORN TAKEN OUT OF A MCBOO BUCKET INTO HIS MOUTH, BARELY WIPES HIS HANDS ON HIS SHIRT, SCRIBBLES HIS NAME OVER HIS PICTURE AND
F-L-I-N-G-S
THE PICTURE ACROSS THE TABLE…
I was taken back about 1000000000 years… what just happened???
So I just look up in time to see Jay holding out his hand to Rooney and saying, “Nice to meet you…”
Rooney can barely hold his hand out to shake because he is a horrible man.
So we leave the area and I am CRUSHED. Where is the friendly and scheming Andy Hardy? The jovial light house keeper from Pete’s Dragon???
Pissed is not the word for how I felt… I still can’t get over how disappointed I was… and still am.
That’s my story of Mickey Rooney…
Godamn MICKEY ROONEY…. He is a miserable LITTLE old man who is just mad that after 1945 NOONE WANTED ANDY HARDY ANYMORE AND SO OL MICK WAS STUCK DOING HORRIBLE ROLES… WELL F- YOU MICKEY ROONEY THAT IS NO REASON TO BE NASTY TO PROBABLY THE ONLY PERSON IN MASSACHUSSETTS WHO ACTUALLY KNEW WHO YOU WERE!!!

Continental Chicken Soup

Perhaps calling this soup Continental is a bit over zealous as I pretty much came up with it whilst   trying to clear some quality produce (read: vegetables that are about to turn) from the fridgie the other day. I am certain however that if this recipe were in the  Slenderella cookbook  circa 1956, it would have a similar moniker as everything in that weight loss bible is luxuriously named.

Digressing, this is a fabulous non dairy soup that features coconut milk and a hint of ginger (the spice, not Ron Weasley). It can be a crockpot soup or you can make it on the stove top. I'm sharing the crock pot version because I have an inappropriate crush on my crocker (and Ron Weasley, but lets keep that on the dl)!

Ingredients:
Frozen or fresh Chicken- I used six frozen chicken drumsticks, skin on, however feel free to use whatever chicken you have on hand. Adjust the amount to suit the number of people you' re feeding.

1 cup frozen corn
1 spanish onion diced into 1/4" cubes
2 carrots diced into 1/4" cubes
2 celery stalks (use the center ones with the leaves for amazing flavor) diced into 1/4" cubes
5 cloves of garlic minced finely or pushed through the garlic press
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp ginger (I used dried from a jar, but feel free to use freshly grated)
1 can unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 tablespoon olive oil

*Pre heat crocker on low setting.
*Dice all vegetables  into approximately 1/4 inch cubes and toss into the crocker.
*Add olive oil, salt and pepper to the veg and stir with a wooden spoon.
* Season and place chicken (it can be frozen) into the crocker.
*Shake and pour the can of coconut milk into the crockpot.
*Stir in the chicken stock
*Add the ginger and frozen corn and stir the entire thing a few times.
*Cover and slow cook on low for at least four hours.
**If you used chicken legs, remove the cooked chicken from the crocker and remove the meat from the bones. I broke the chicken up into about 1/2"  pieces. Return the chicken meat to the crockpot.
*Serve hot!

The flavor from the coconut milk,ginger and garlic set this soup over the edge, its creamy and to this not so continental gal, very foreign tasting! This soup is also amazing with fresh shrimp.

Happy New Year

Heres to the end of a trying, life changing and amazing 2011! The past year brought two Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses and one beautiful baby girl, Lena Emily. I wonder what the next year will bring us, and hope for only the best although I know that is nearly impossible. My goals this year are to try my hardest to create the most positive environment for my family, to work all unnecessary processed foods out of our diets, and to update this blog much, MUCH more often than last year.

Wishing everyone the best in the coming year!

Who Gives A Hang About The Neighborhood

I am writing this post on the lovely Lenovo laptop, from the comfort of my side porch steps.  I say comfort but really mean cramped mismatched black outdoor carpeting covered side porch steps, but anyway...

I have just completed phase one of my plan to perennial-ize my yard.  I am a very lazy gardener who loves a well manicured yet not boring garden, and so I figure if I can plant all at once and then just have to do basic weeding I should be okay.  Digressing (not really, but stick with me I do have a point here) I have a small area of my side yard that houses a lovely tree that blooms pink in spring and drops nasty cherry like fruit all over the side lawn and driveway in the early fall. That side lawn borders our semi-retired neighbor who I not so lovingly call Terry Francona  based on looks alone.

This neighbor is a lawn mowing nazi.  He is out there cutting his grass three times a week, and I swear to you that I have seen him picking single leaves off it on more than one occasion. Just the other day he cut back some bushes that were overhanging from our BACK YARD onto the invisible property line we share, and instead of bagging the tree waste up and tossing it, since he was soooo concerned about it, he dumped the pile of branches onto our yard and took off.  I wanted to leave them there for the world to see what a lunatic we live next door to, but Jay, being the good person that he is bagged them up for disposal. 

That act of neighborly kindness got me thinking about in my day to day life, I care very little for what others think about me, but in my semi-suburbanite edge of the city home dwelling life, I have been caring WAY TOO MUCH about what the neighbors think of my house (which is under minor construction by the way).  When we bought the house I had grand schemes of fabulous lawn burros, pink flamingos and tacky pink  and purple flowers everywhere, but with having the twins and now being pregnant again my plans keep getting put on the back burner. I also was concerned with "what with the neighbors think" thoughts. I have moved on though, and will be slowly but surely commencing my grand dreams of the green and brown cape with pink and purple tacky flowers and crap all over the place.  

My dream house (inside and out truth be told)!

I have two tomato plants growing in my little side yard garden, as well as a pot that I have planted a bunch of flat leaf Italian parsley in. Next to that I just today (about forty five minutes ago actually) planted three rows of fabulous pink and purple perennials that include: poppies, forget me nots, and some other things.  I bordered my little garden with vintage bricks that the previous owners had lined the yard with in the 50s. It looks cute already and will be darling once the flowers spring up.   

Here are some photos of whats going on in the yard so far: 

My new flowerbed/tomato garden!

My needing weeding road/driveway side flower bed with fabulous bird that you may recognize from the movie Pecker!

The lovely roses that I rescued from under 5 feet of debris about 3 years ago!

I also have alongside the other side of my house where the other neighbor who shall remain nameless occupies the adjoining plot a fabulous little garden of Hosta in purple and white, huge white Peonys, and hopefully some hydrangea (which someone who shall remain nameless covered with construction bricks, so we'll see if they come back to me).  I am off to a good start, if only I could have these little moments of productivity a little more often!

Anyway, the moral of my long and winding story is that neighbors are like opinions, and you all know what opinions are like!