Amma's Rants

I'm a Slug

2011-04-03T16:06:00.000-04:00

Yup. That's me. Slug extrodinaire. I haven't blogged in so log I almost forgot how to type. I have noticed that some of the other blogs I read haven't been posting quite so regularly so I don't feel that bad. Anyway, here's that update you've all been waiting to read..............
Our 17 year old foster kid is now 18. He's a senior hoping to graduate in June and just got a part-time job as a dishwasher at a local eatery where one of his buddies also works. He did his junior year in Texas, living with extended family. Right now he is the epitome of teenage angst so some soul searching but without a road map (which he doesn't know how to read). And he wants to get his driver's license. God help us all!
Our little guy is now in Kindergarten and proving to be one heck of a smarty pants. He's still non-verbal but in three languages: English, ASL (sign), and Swedish. The latter two aren't spoken so much but what is said or signed, he understands quite well. He's learned how to navigate a computer (OMG) and can get to the "Thomas the Tank Engine" website in mere seconds. He's also learning how to use an iPad (that the school got him and he gets to keep) which will be a communication device for him. He says only "mama" and "daddy" which, as far as these parents are concerned, is all he needs to say.
And my significant other and I have decided that we've had enough of northern New England winters. And that fact that anywhere we go to shop is at least 30 miles in any direction has prompted us to re-think our current location. Because of hubby's job territory, we've decided that a move a bit further south would put us in a location convenient to family, shopping, and public transportation. Public transportation is pretty non-existent here. The winning state? Northern Delaware, somewhere around Wilmington. It would really shorten my drive to see family in NJ, especially the Jersy shore. And there's no sales tax in Delaware. The downside is that I may have to get a part-time job because there is a state income tax. We're at the beginning of the process. We have a realtor here and in Delaware. Just hope this house will sell as quickly as our last one did. There will be one hell of a yard sale since we tend to accumulate a lot of stuff from our dearly departed relatives. We currently have enough furniture for another house and lots of other junk stored in our basement. One of my brothers wants to sell his house and I told him that I will be bringing down some furniture really soon (some he can keep and some he can use for staging. Anyone with any suggestions as to how to get rid of some this stuff, your comments are most welcome. (Bonfires are not applicable).
So says Amma today!

Back to blogging

2009-11-10T11:48:00.003-05:00

Finally, I'm getting back to blogging. The main reason for my sabbatical from the blogosphere is the fact that for the last several months, I have had a 17 year old foster son. Need I say more?? With hectic schedules, I usually spend my mornings doing mom stuff and by the time I finally get a chance to get here, kids start to roll in from school and my computer is usually taken over by unseen forces (which means big kid retreats to his little "man cave", closes the door and spends the rest of the afternoon playing games on the computer). The computer is located in his room so it's impossible to use it without invading his space. But since he's transferring out of state in a couple of days, maybe I can back into a better routine. That being said, I'm ready to post again but will be organizing my themes or other stuff that I wish to write about.
A few snippets of life in my fast lane:
1)Drive to Florida
2)Really cool (new) Pastor
3)School starts
4)Mr & Mrs Vegas kid
5)Turkey Day
I'm hoping to get at least one post a week done, if not more often. So stay tuned and grab some popcorn. I'll be back in a few days!
So says amma today.

What's in your soda?

2009-08-14T10:17:00.003-04:00

When I went to Sweden, I had to have my "Pepsi" fix and got it. The stuff is international...like McD's. I've also become a label reader and was surprised to find that my tasty treat was made with actual sugar, not the cheap high fructose corn syrup that is thrust into almost any sweet drink available in the the good ol' US of A.
I'd been hearing that this HFCS stuff isn't so good for you and so I did a little research (to satisfy my curiosity and not look too blonde). When I googled the words, the first thing I was shown to go to was a site that basically tried to debunk the "myths" about how bad HFCS is. I read it and what was missing was that none of the claims made in favor of the stuff was supported by any studies, experiments, or otherwise. When I linked into a few other sites that denounced it's greatness, I was shown all the studies, facts, etc., that prove how dangerous this stuff can be.
Lets start with obesity. Besides the fact that kids drink way too much soda (especially teens) this is definitely a contributing factor in getting fat. If one can think back 30 years or so, just before HFCS was being used, there didn't seem to be so much of an obesity problem.
Other problems this stuff can cause is liver damage, complications in diabetes, mineral loss, changes in skin collagen (it can age you!), copper deficiency, defective connective tissue, heart arrythmia, even high cholesterol(more about that one later).
In my quest to satisfy my cola craving, I can't find anything without this crap in it except for Pepsi Throwback, which was promotional and is no longer available. It also has caffeine which I try not to have too much of due to bone health. I did find some 4-pak of bottled soda sans HFCS but it was too expensive and I refuse to pay for something that costs that much for a substitute that should be there in the first place!!
So the other day, at the local grocery, I found a brand called "Adirondack Natural" that is cola flavored, does not have the questionable HFCS,and has no caffeine!!! I was in cola heaven. Not only that, but it actually cost a little less than my usual 2-liter bottle of caffeine free Pepsi. It also has no preservatives. So here is finally a soda that I can drink without worrying about what it's doing to my insides. I've never big on drinking just water (I do love to drink milk with supper or cake or cookies) and I do check the labels on the juices I give my son to make sure he doesn't get bad stuff, but I don't need to put our health at risk just because something is touted as good for you. It turns out that the use of HFCS is good only for the bottom line....the one that lines the pockets of the CEO's.
So if you're a soda drinker like me, perhaps you can peruse your store for this better stuff and give it a try. I'm not very disciplined as far as giving up drinking soda goes (and I was actually going to try) so this is a good find. Even if you don't regularly partake, I'm sure you know someone who does. Even if they don't have this particular soda in your area, at least warn your friends and loved ones of the dangers of this cheap sugar substitue and urge them to get the HFCS out of their systems. And never, never, ever give crappy sodas or juices to your kids!!!!
So says Amma today.

A few pics from Sweden

2009-06-08T10:29:00.002-04:00

Hope my attempt to publish a few pictures isn't in vain. I have great difficulty with this thing so be patient!

The Swedish Experience

2009-06-03T10:27:00.002-04:00

I'm finally getting the chance to blog about my trip to Sweden. It's been difficult these days trying to get enough "me" time on the computer due to the fact that we have a foster son, who'd 16 1/2 and spends most of his waking hours consuming all the game time he can (when he's not at school).
Anywho, my trip (accompanied by my big brothers) was nothing short of fabulous. The weather was mostly sunny, breezy, and cool but we packed in quite a bit.
Having left Newark at about 5:30pm on May 1, we arrived in Stockholm the next morning at 7:15am (Sweden is 6 hours ahead of us). We acclimated ourselves to Arlanda Airport and I made my way to the nearest coffee shop. Yum...good,strong, Swedish coffee! Then we exchanged our $$ for Kronor and finally, found where to get tickets for the Express train to Stockholm. N Period could got a senior discount and Caboose and I got a "twofer" deal.
The express took 20 minutes to deliver us to Central Station and while I waited for my friend to meet us, the boys checked out a few things and bought tickets for our train trip to Goteborg on Monday. I finally figured out that I was waiting in the wrong area and found my friend Maggie and we had wonderful hellos and then it was off to the "T" to take the subway to the bus station and then to Maggie's apartment. Maggie was the ultimate host, having bought us tickets for the T and bus (same ticket!) on her senior discount. We hung out at Maggie's for awhile and while she stayed at her sister Eva's apartment across the way, we napped then headed over to Eva's for a fabulous dinner.
On Sunday, I went with Maggie to her church in Stockholm. What a gorgeous place. It was built sometime in the mid-1700's and is just the most beautiful church I've ever seen. The choir is professional and it was like listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. And there were only about a dozen or so members! And like every Lutheran church, we had coffee hour after the service. It was just grand! People are so nice there. After returning to Maggie's, the boys and I took a foray back into Stockholm and visited Gamlastan (Old Town). There are cobblestone streets and buildings from early 1600's. There's a restaurant that's operated since about 1641 in the same place that serves a lot of "authentic" Swedish fare, but it is a bit pricey for this tourist on a budget. We saw the Royal Palace and visited at least a dozen gift shops. On Sunday evening, we had another delicious meal with our hosts and then took a leisurely walk around the grounds of the apartment complex. There are walking/biking trails all around and you can go for miles! We even heard a nightingale singing. It didn't get dark till almost 10pm.
On Monday morning we headed out to go back to Stockholm to catch our train to Goteborg. The ride to Goteborg (Sweden's 2nd largest city) took about 5 hours and was the smoothest ride any of us had ever had on a train. Once in Goteborg, we took the tram (a "light" electric railway) to our hostel. We had a private room with one twin bed (mine) and bunkbeds. There was a sink in the room as well as a small table and it was quite comfortable. A bit of advice: rent the sheets and towels. Once settled, we walked about the neighborhood since we were a bit away from the downtown area. We got food, ate, and chatted about our first impressions (WOW) and then went to sleep. The next morning we ended up walking to the downtown which gave us a chance to explore a bit better. The architecture is awesome and old and be sure you don't walk in the bike path. The boys explored the trains at the central station a bit more. We saw the XJ200 which is rather expensive but our 5 hour trip would only take 3 hours on this. Also a Danish train that takes you straight to Copehagen. Many of the train cars are named after no one in particular.
We ate at an Irish pub restaurant that evening which was quite good (especially the beer). Back to our hostel and some time to relax and take it all in before bed.
More tram riding the next day, this time to the end of the line in one direction and then the other. The scenery is just beautiful being by the sea. We also took a bus to Kungalv, where our grandmother was born and raised. I was able to take pictures of the church she attended with her parents and 7 siblings. I wanted to visit the cemetery where many of the family is buried but it was too far to walk and time constraints had us leaving too soon. We marveled at the simple homes which made us feel like we were at our mother's or grandparents' homes. The same little decorations in the windows and many homes have a flagpole in the yard that flies the Swedish flag.
We left Goteborg on Thursday and although it was a bit rainy, I thought it cool that there didn't seem to be a place to park one's bicycle at the plaza in front of the central station. This seems to be a very healthy country. We didn't see any really overweight or obese people either. Must be all that biking and walking they do!
When we got back to Stockholm, we put our luggage in a locker at the station and did another walking tour of the city and ended up back in Gamlastan where we had dinner in of all places, a Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good, the price was right and we thought it better than some back home. We made it back to Maggie's and the next day another trip back to the city. This time Maggie came with us and we took a boat to get to the Vasa museum. This is a huge ship that foundered 15 minutes after it set sail in 1648. It was raised in 1964 and restored a bit. Many of my pictures didn't come out because of the dim lighting which is so because the ship is deteriorating. All in all, it was quite fascinating and I highly recommend a visit if you ever go to Sweden. We also went to the National Museum but only to the gift shop since the admission was more than we wanted to pay. More walking around Stockholm and then back to Maggie's apartment. We took our host and her sister out to dinner at the nearby mall and it was a wonderful meal. And they didn't "overfeed" you with food. The portions were generous but not so you couldn't eat most of your food and feel overstuffed. We spent the evening at Eva's apartment with Maggie watching TV (the programs were in English with Swedish sub-titles!) We said our goodbye's and went back to Maggie's apartment and to bed.
We arose very early and through the rain and dragging our luggage, caught the 6am bus back to the T station and then back to Stockholm to get the express to the airport. I did manage to buy a small bottle of Aquavit which I think is Swedish moonshine. It's strong and the mere aroma will give you a kick! After a long 8 hour flight home (and the food was good on the plane!) we were back in Newark to a very warm, humid day. We went out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Gillette,NJ and we were all fast asleep by 8pm.
I have promised my soon to be 16 year old grandson that I will take him to Sweden for a graduation gift (in 3 years) which should give me enough time to save up. He says he's looking forward to it and maybe this time we can actually meet some of our cousins.
So says Amma today.

Sweden Update

2009-03-27T12:11:00.003-04:00

Whew! Time is drawing near for our trip to Sweden. I'm getting really excited since I've never been "abroad" and for me, this is the trip of a lifetime to the place from where most of my ancestors came. And being as proud as I am of my heritage I know there will be a lot of "familiar" things because I was so exposed to my family history.
I met with a former member of my church last Sunday who is from Sweden. She is here visiting her children and grandchildren and I had to tell, of course, about my upcoming trip. She asked when and where we would be staying and I gave her the itinerary (so far) stating that we hadn't booked any hotels yet. Lo and behold, she called me the next day and offered us her apartment in Stockholm for the nights we would be there (the first and last two of the week). She tells me her sister has an apartment across the street from hers and she would simply stay there. Wow! What a deal. She even said she'd meet us at the airport to make sure we get the right bus to her place. I called my brothers immediately to tell them the good news and they were just as excited at the offer. Next on the agenda, we'll be traveling by train to the west coast of Sweden to hopefully meet a cousin or two and maybe a day trip to Oslo. Of all the hotels in the city, there is nothing available. Seems that there will be some kind of trade show going on and everything is booked. Vegas kid sent me an e-mail with a link to hostels in the area. It turned out to be a google search but I found Lonely Planet (they have the best travel guides. I went on their site and finally found only two remaining hostels with any rooms. So instead of trying to find a hotel that would cost around $100 a night per person, we were able to get a private room with 3 beds for under $200 for the three of us for 3 nights. As I related to Vegas kid, I'm in bargain Heaven! All this in spite of the fact that the three beds consists of a bunkbed with a trundle!
So my mister will be happy that the bank won't foreclose on our home so I can take this trip. He loves it more than I do when I don't spend money so he'll be happy to hear this bit of news when he returns home from his latest business jaunt.
Happy Lent, Palm Sunday, and Easter!! Praise the Lord!!
So says Amma today.

Sad news

2009-03-22T17:55:00.002-04:00

I've been so excited about finally going to Sweden. I had been in touch with one of my cousins (most of them are elderly) and just when you think you've begun to make plans, bad things happen. I was waiting for a reply back from my last post to my cousin and I got one from a different cousin. She had a friend write it because she can't speak or write English. I learned that my contact cousin got his cancer back and was in the hospital. He told the other one to write and let me know and she said he probably wouldn't leave the hospital. She had an e-mail so I gave that a shot and I did get a reply back the other day saying he had passed away. She also said that another of our cousins would not be able to have visitors as she is going in for some kind heart surgery soon. And this cousin had made plans back in October for a 6 week trip to a resort on one of the islands off Sweden so wouldn't be available to visit.
So it seems that we won't be able to see any of our family in Sweden when we go but our purpose was also to visit the place where our Grandmother grew up and we will surely do that. I have a friend who can translate for me so I can write a letter to one of the cousins and hopefully meet one or two of the younger ones. Another friend at church visits sometimes but now lives back in Sweden has offered to meet us in Stockholm at some point and that will be nice to see a familiar face.
So wish us luck.....I'm counting down the days! And yes, Kid, I will try to get some tiles for you!

So says Amma today.

Going Home

2009-02-09T19:03:00.002-05:00

Well, I finally did it, or rather will do it. For the past couple of years my brothers and I have been casually chatting about going to visit a few cousins in Sweden. We thought about doing this as soon as last spring or maybe even in the fall but whatever the reasons, we never seemed to be able to bring the whole idea to fruition. And now, especially since my mom's passing, we're going!! Yippee!! I sent Christmas cards to two of mom's cousins that she keeps in touch with and explained our sadness over her loss. One of them can speak and write fairly well in English and before I got his (forwarded) card to mom, he'd sent me a letter explaining that he knew something was wrong when he hadn't gotten mom's card at the usual time before the holiday. He is around 80 years old by now and there is another cousin who lives not far from him who is 84 years old now. I had read the letter to my brothers and the oldest bro thought we should start planning our trip in a year or two. Nope, not good enough and maybe too late. I wanted to go NOW. I get e-mail notices from SAS (the main Swedish airline) and wouldn't ya know that I got a notice of a spring fare special so I called the guys and said I'm booking this one.
So on May 1 we leave from Newark (since one of us lives nearby and the other two will drive down to NJ). I'm really excited. After I got everything booked on line I called one of the brothers and let him know it was a done deal. Since the guys are rail fans, I let him know that I want to see other things in Sweden besides trains. And we'll be spending about 5 hours going from Stockholm to Goteborg (which is in southern Sweden on the opposite coast and near the Norwegian border). Our relatives live within 30 miles north of Goteborg. To get to their towns, we take a bus.
We're also reading a guide book by Lonely Planet which is excellent. It tells you the places you might stay and visit and also what the costs may be as well as how not to spend your money. Sweden is very expensive so we'll need to be frugal. A beer can be around $5 or $6 and that's for the cheap stuff. I also wrote a letter to one of the cousin's and let him know that we're coming as well as asking for any travel tips while we're in his area. If anyone has any good travel tips or knows of good, yet inexpensive places to stay, leave a comment. They'd be greatly appreciated. We might stay at a youth hostel in Stenengsund or Kungalv but probably in a hotel in Stockholm. Since one bro is on a cruise with his spouse, we'll have to wait to make an itinerary. Getting the cheap airfare was our first priority.
So wish us Bon Voyage and I'll be looking for your travel tips!

So says Amma today (no negative ranting!)

Another New Year

2009-01-01T10:25:00.002-05:00

I've been wondering what exactly to post to my very first blog of 2009. I thought some reflection on 2008 was due so here goes.
Last year didn't seem to fly by quite as fast but here we are in the new year once again. I made many new memories last year and hope this year will be just as memorable. To start out, we adopted our foster son. He's autistic and non-verbal but is doing remarkably well in pre-school. He's such a happy little guy I feel lucky to have him.
Next came Vegas Kid's engagement and then wedded bliss in June. The ceremony was in Vegas and I spent several days "chillin" in the Vegas heat. It was great to meet kid's new in-laws.
Sadly, we suffered the loss of my mom. Thankfully it was a peaceful passing. She was 20 days away from her 88th birthday. Our memories our warm and we miss her terribly.
October brought the newlyweds to the east where they honeymooned and we has a special party so my terrific new son-in-law could meet his newly acquired family. I hope they'll be inspired to visit once in awhile (I can't wait to be able to visit LV again).
Our holidays were as they usually are except for the fact that mom wasn't here. The only thing that I didn't was go all out preparing breakfast for my house guests. I guess I just wasn't up to it this year.
Now we look forward to the New Year. I haven't made any resolutions other than saying "I'll try" to make what changes need to be made. I know there's quite a few.
In 2008 I had the most important of my prayers answered and for that I'm most thankful. We have what we need here and I no longer want for much (except independent wealth like most of us want).
For 2009 we hope and pray that our economy will recover somewhat anyway and we don't have any devastating storms and that our troops will all soon be home.
Bless you all and Happy New Year!

White Christmas

2008-12-20T08:17:00.002-05:00

We finally got thru the ice storm of 2008. Here in New England it was quite nasty albeit beautiful. The ice coating every branch and each blade of grass was a fantastically beautiful but the damage it left was devasting to so many people. Trees were bent over and many toppled and broken branches were everywhere. The worst was the death of a couple of people from carbon monoxide poisoning and one very sad gentleman that was on oxygen died when the he lost power and the battery backup finally gave out. He was found in his bed, dead, and the temperature in his apartment was 35 degrees. There were fires, trees that fell on houses, and live wires across roads. We were fortunate to have lost power for only 4 days. My man stayed home and manned the fireplace so no pipes would freeze and I took our little one and headed down to Connecticut to wait out the power outage at my brother's house. My son was amazingly good for an autistic child who'd never been to his uncle's house before and isn't use to travelling so far. One thing that kept his attention was the train pictures uncle has hanging on his walls. J. loves trains and of course the "Thomas" dvds he watched. We even took him to uncle's barber for a much needed haircut.
The temps zoomed up to around 50 by Monday afternoon and we headed home the next day. My man was really thrilled to finally be able to take a hot shower and have some "real" coffee. We were glad to be home to sleep in our own comfortable beds. (My brother has this very old sofa bed that will be chopped up when he finally buys a new home).
Now we can finally get ready for Christmas. The only drawback being that we are in the middle of a snowstorm that has left us with over a foot of snow and altho it should have stopped snowing late last night, it hasn't. And it's really cold outside.
Next week, weather experts tell us to expect another storm starting either Christmas Eve or Christmas day. Definitely a white Christmas. My CT. brother will be coming up on Christmas Eve and I have suggested to my NJ brother and sister-in-law that it may be better to come up on Christmas Day since they can only spend one nite. They have their birds to take care of and can't really leave them more than a night alone so if Friday is better to travel back home so be it.
I hope and pray that everyone has an awesome, safe, and warm Christmas. If you must travel, please take it slow. My Vegas kid sez that they got snow in Vegas (Yeah!! about 3 inches) but that people actually slowed way down on the highways. I think it was due to shock!
Anywho, take it easy and enjoy your holidays!
So says amma today.

Missing chapter

2008-12-05T12:52:00.002-05:00

I was reminded the other day that although I finally posted to my blog, I left out an entire chapter! So without further adieu, here is "the missing chapter". The Saturday after Thanksgiving was my son's 4th birthday. Since he has autism and isn't really aware of what birthdays are, we celebrated with just a little fanfare. We got him a card, a small cake (he didn't know how to blow out the candle) and a book of his favorite character, Thomas the Tank Engine. This book was extra special since it was about Thomas' birthday. He really loved having us read it to him (several times) and he also ate some yummy chocolate cake. We have some difficulty getting him to eat a variety of foods so if he eats cake, so be it. (He does eat other stuff but rarely has "junk" food).
My Vegas kid told me she sent a small package to little J. for his birthday and we should get it soon. Well, the post being what it is, the package didn't arrive till the following Tuesday. First, there was a "sound" card which he loved. And then there was the peel and stick pictures of Thomas and Friends that sissy found in the home decorating department. Kind of like a wallpaper border. I put all the pictures up rather strategically so he wouldn't peel them off but the overall look of delight on his face said it all. Sissy always manages to get just the right gift. And I'm sure if he could talk he'd be saying thanks to Sissy for the really cool gift. Maybe I should get some glow in the dark stars for the ceiling that will both delight and put an end to leaving the light on after bedtime. For now, J. looks around his room when he wakes up each morning, just making sure his "friends" are still there.
Thanks, Sissy. I love you!
J.

So says Amma today.

T is for Turkey

2008-12-03T11:48:00.002-05:00

Thanksgiving is finally over but as ours turned out, it was pretty good. My brothers and my sister in law were here to help eat glorious turkey and one bro makes excellent cookies and a pie. The sad part was that our mom passed away only a couple months ago and we all missed her. I was ready to call her the next day to tell her how well everything came out and stopped myself just a few feet of the phone. Then I realized that she probably already knows.
The highlight of this Thanksgiving was rather funny when my Vegas kid called the Saturday evening before to tell me she couldn't find "Bell's Seasoning", an essential part of making the stuffing. The next afternoon, Florida kid called with the same dilemma.
They tried every store they could think of. Vegas kid later told me that when she asked at one store, the clerk had no idea what it was. Needless to say, and $37 later, I sent them each a box via express mail. Poor Vegas kid ended up calling me frantic, that hers hadn't shown up yet. She finally looked it up online and decided to head over to the LV post office. She was informed that a notice was left but none was found. But she finally did get her "Bell's" and both kids made successful stuffing. The recipe has been used since before I was born so if you're gonna make it ya gotta make it right!!
Now we're into the Christmas buying mode. I've managed displaying a few decorations (the tree doesn't go up till the week before) and I've even bought a few things but I really hate to shop the malls so most of my buying will be online. I will stay safely indoors on the weekends until at least the end of January. Then I'll cash in some of those gift cards when the bargains are aplenty!!
So here's to all of you readers: I hope you're still enjoying some turkey and won't get to frustrated looking for a parking space at the mall.
Merry Christmas!!
So says Amma today.

Meet and Greet

2008-10-13T13:18:00.002-04:00

This past weekend was quite enjoyable as family and friends gathered at "The Yard" to meet and eat with my kid and her hubby to celebrate their recent nuptials. I was happy to see them (again) and equally happy that kid got to see some very dear friends from her college and high school days.
Dinner was fairly good, other than my nearly four year old son who had his own way of clearing the table. He has a bit of a cold but managed to show everyone at our table what he'd recently eaten. Afterwards, he seemed his old self while he delighted in running around with the other children and trying to sneak out of a door where he shouldn't be. Of course. He's four and testing the limits.
My brother whom kid refers to as "Uncle Caboose" spent a couple nights with at my house. We even went to church on Sunday morning and then he headed back to CT.
Kid's mister has never been to the east coast so this is also their (delayed) honeymoon trip. This being the peak of New England fall foliage they seemed to be enjoying the trip. They made no plans to really visit anybody else other than the special dinner on Saturday night so it was with extreme pleasure that kid called me Sunday night to explain that they'd postponed walking around Boston due to my son-in-law having an achy back and wondered if they could visit here. I believe she thought we might all go out to eat but with her little brother still a bit under the weather, I said I could whip something up for dinner and so they came.
I made a quick pot of spaghetti sauce and it was actually pretty good so we definitely had enough to go 'round. Mainly, they stayed for several hours so I was really charged! We even managed to go through a few things from my recently departed mom that are stored in the basement. Kid wanted a couple of furniture items which she and hubby will have to plan another trip for so this makes me happy to anticipate their next visit.
I would love to be going out to L.V. to see kid and her mister so at this point the thought process of a trip (maybe next spring) has begun. Like my mom used to say whenever I asked for something special....."We'll see".
So it was a fabulous weekend here in the hills of historic NH and for those of you that were there last Saturday, it was great to see you all!
So says Amma today.

Amma's Rants: Catching up

2008-09-19T18:07:00.000-04:00

Amma's Rants: Catching up Thanks, Court. We hope to see you soon.

Catching up

2008-09-18T20:19:00.002-04:00

What can I say?? It's been what seems like another lifetime since I last posted so this is just for catching up.
Kid's wedding was great. Being in Vegas was really hot but I enjoyed my time there and with my brothers, N Period and Bo. We did the tour of the strip for hours on the day of Kid's wedding and my feet barely fit into my shoes. N Period couldn't understand since he didn't need to put on high heels after all that walking. Had the extreme pleasure of meeting new son-in-law's parents, uncle and aunt. Awesome family!
I flew back day after the shindig but due to thunder storms back east, flight was delayed for hours and didn't get in til 1:30am. With other daughter and grandkids being here and leaving the next morning, I decided to get all of 4 hours sleep at a local motel and dear husband picked me up when he dropped the kids off for their flight to Florida. Phew! Glad that's over!
Summer was fairly slow with some hotter than hell days and some more tolerable. The few things in my garden took forever to ripen and some squash we planted never really did anything so now we wonder if we should relocate the garden or just give squash it's own space. There's always next year.
At lastly, sadly, my mom passed away. She was in hospital a week before with kidney infection, sepsis, and pancreatitis but most of that was cleared up. Damn osteoporosis was really taking it's toll on her nearly 88 year old body. She was nearly crushed because her back was so bent over from the osteo and breathing was difficult. Her doctor told me some years ago that this might eventually happen and it wouldn't be a good thing. Fortunately, she had great care in hospital and she was unaware and quite comfortable. I was with her when she passed, which was hard but I believe she knew I was there which made it a little easier, knowing she had no more pain. So I must advise as a mom would to sit up straight, drink your milk, get exercise and tone down or quit the smoking and drinking. Let up on the caffeine a bit as well. Take calcium. I have the dreaded osteo and arthritis but at this point the back is straight and I get plenty of exercise with hyper-autistic son (who's doing marvelously, BTW).
Now we are getting through the clean up of mum's apartment and much junk has been removed, the memories saved, and much of it, including furniture will reside in my basement for one of my kids to take their wants or some will be passed on. Lord forbid I should pass anytime soon because all I can say is it will be the yard sale of the millenium!!
All told, my family from coast to coast has been wonderful, loving and supportive. I suppose a reunion is in the offing soon so we can reminisce about our awesome childhoods. We feel the need to stay connected so this would be the way to do so.
And that dear readers, is all the catching up to do. Hope I'm forgiven for being so lax for so long.
So says Amma today.
Go to Kid's blog: kirstenL4w.com for some awesome pics she posted of her grandma.

New blogger

2008-06-06T18:16:00.002-04:00

I just found the most awesome blog : John's Incoherent Ramblings". This is a guy that travels extensively and describes himself as a math nerd. Has to have a hell of a job that takes him to conferences or to work on projects all over the globe. Plus he posts a few pictures of his latest visits. The pictures are spectacular and anyone who'd like to travel without leaving your armchair (or computer) I would urgently suggest you check it out this Aussie kid's blog. He can't be more than 30, perhaps a few years younger and I think he's one fortunate dude to be able to travel as he does.
OK so I haven't blogged in like forever. Cut me some slack. Spouse's new position in the company has him working from home a LOT and I don't get much chance to sit down and blog on (even tho he has a laptop). I've now banned him to the spare bedroom/office so he doesn't have all his work stuff strewn about on my breakfast bar. This does serve to keep an active 3 year old at bay while he works but it still drives me nuts having him underfoot. Yes, he does travel around the northeast sometimes but the company has put a bit of a hold on travel for a while. Fortunately, he had to attend a meeting for 3 days in the motor city so the little one and I have been lazing about. Tomorrow it's back to the grind. Then I'm off to celebrate kid's nuptials in hotter than hell Las Vegas in two weeks. I can hardly wait. Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!
So says Amma today!

Wedding

2008-04-01T12:06:00.003-04:00

My beautiful daughter recently announced her engagement. And with that a wedding date. I couldn't be happier for her. But as is her nature, she is beyond worrying and totally stressed. Understandable. I am too, just trying to make plans to get and stay in LV for the festivities. I am flying out a few days early so I can have a mini vaca myself but of course if the bride needs any help from me, she shouldn't hesitate to ask. I know that this is one ginormous stressor and it's sooooo hard to pass off tasks, especially when you're in charge of all the planning but believe me, delegating is not that hard once you get the hang of it. And don't forget there will be wedding "gifts" which might help with some of the plans, if not new home. I think I'd probably be ready to slash my wrists at this point but, but how do you get the point across that you can take an hour to chill everyday if you want to?? I hope my last e-mails on this subjuect to the bride will not be dismissed. Imagine freaking out over a tie?? It's not that bad and if there's cause for concern, tell me exactly what you want and I'll do my best to make sure it's up to par (I said I'd get her dad a tie that will "tie in" with the bridal party colors which he and I even discussed but bride is still a bit uptight about that one). It'll all be beautiful and all will work out just fine. And when I win the lottery you shouldn't worry about the cost of this little shindig(if only). And don't forget to keep your live journal. BTW, we've got the fall festivity taken care of so no need to worry there. Just pour yourself a glass of relax when you get home from work and have FH massage your feet for a bit. Or just take one fukitol pill and call me in the morning,(or not). We're still here for you. Be chillin'!! And pray I lose at least one stone before the Big Day.

So says Amma today

It happens in 3's

2008-03-19T10:17:00.002-04:00

I started to write this blog last week sometime and somehow lost all the stuff I was typing so here we go (again).
The 1st weekend in March I usually head to NJ and have a "sibs" weeken with 2 of my brothers (and my sister-in-law. Spouse stays home with Imp Master J. My oldest brother and I celebrate our birthdays (they're 5 days apart and he's way older than me and I'm still the baby. We usually go out to dinner and other brother buys. I called spouse to let him know I was preparing to return home and asked how things were going. His reply was that J. had a "bubble" and managed to blast his breakfast all over Daddy's bathrobe. So spouse puts the robe in the washer, setting the water level for a large load of clothes. Washer decided to die and water leaked out over half the basement. He cleaned up as much as he could (he did exceptionally well. I came home to a somewhat damp basement and washday Monday was cancelled. On to the local suds and duds with one load that I took home to dry. Dryer is only 2 years old and still under warranty.
The following Sunday I went to church with J. in tow and met spouse afterwards at the appliance store. I had checked things out there the Friday before so we made the decision to buy beautiful Bosch front loader. They would be delivering the following Thursday.
I went home to feed J. lunch and spouse headed down to Manchester to do some errands.
I kept hearing this loud grinding noise and thought one of the neighbors was chipping wood. Not thinking much about this I continued on my way, changing diapers and clothes and picking up around the house. Noise continued and began to irritate me. I opened the front door to see if I could depict where this noise was coming from. I didn't hear it at all! I opened the basement door and noise was louder than ever. I panicked. It was coming from the gas furnace. I called the fire department. I put shoes and jacket on both me and J. and went outside, got in the car and moved the car to a side area, hopefully out jof harms way. I also shut the thermostat "off" so the heat wouln't run. I finally remembered the name of the gas company and called them. Spouse came home at that moment. We were instructed to shut gas off outside. Fire guys came and checked for leaks. Everything was ok. Emergency tech at gas company decided not to come out but repair guy would be there 1st thing in the morning. We were told we still had hot water and could use our gas fireplace for heat. The latter worked very well. The fan on the blower motor for the furnace had broken apart (hence the grinding noise. I was told I'd done the right thing by shutting off the heat at the thermostat.
The repair guy came on Monday morning (early)but had to get the new part. He went to some town on the Vermont border later that day and was back at 8:30 the next morning to repair the furnace. All is now well. Furnace runs quieter than ever.
Spouse was supposed to leave that Tuesday morning for a business trip to Connecticut put postponed it a day to be home for furnace guy. We regret he did.
About 6:30 Wednesday morning, spouse left for business trip. Travelling past Keene, NH on state Hwy. 10, he was into the little town of Winchester, NH when he ran into some black ice. He started to slide into the oncoming lane of traffic and grabbed the steering wheel, making the little '97 Explorer spin around, hit a snowbank, and folled over several times, coming to rest upside down. He managed to open the door and get out of his seatbelt. After getting out and someone stopping to help, he went back and shut the running engine off. The guy he almost hit, which would have most likely caused a chain reaction, called 911 and turned around to see how spouse was. So spouse called me from the ambulance as the took him to Cheshire Medical Ctr.
His first ambulance ride. The doctor thought he may have broken ribs, a punctured lung or maybe a concussion. Nothing. Only a small laceration on the side of his head that the doctor decided didn't really need stitches. Meanwhile, I'm at home talking to all his bosses, but mainly talking to the number one boss, God. When I picked up dear spouse several hours later, I told him how thankful I was to the Lord and that I was sure He had a hand in this. Spouse gently squeezed my hand. I didn't cry, I was just happy that this anal, uptight guy that doesn't always use common sense was relatively unscathed from what could have been far worse.
Financially, these things have all been really tough but we're alive, we have what we need and we're so blessed with all we do have. We know we'll get by ok, somehow. I keep praying that we will.
The other good news is that my kid in Vegas is getting married. She's in love and she's happy (fiancee', too) so that's what's important. We all can't afford to go to the wedding but I will go cause I have to see my first born tie the knot. I can't wait. Hopefully, the snow will be gone when I return (the nuptuials are in June. Spring begings tomorrow and the snow on our lawn is still about 3-4 feet deep. Never mind the huge piles of stuff that was plowed.
So that's our 3 tradgedies and we're done, at least for awhile.
I wish you all a Happy Easter and hopefully one of us will find a golden egg at the Easter Egg Hunt.
So rants Amma today.

The Pictures Have Arrived

2008-03-03T14:19:00.002-05:00

So this is a VERY round about way just to show a few pictures. They are of Imp Master J and one of his very pretty little neice, Mia. I hope you take the time to view them so you can see the handsome little man that will soon share our last name. I know I did something very wrong earlier while trying to get these to my blog and kid will someday walk me through the right way to post pictures but for now this will have to do. Kid will eventually figure out that I went into my gallery, picked out the pics, and then sent them to myself. There is a "send to" tab on the top of my toolbar that says I can send it to "blogger" so that's how they finally got to my blog. WHEW!!!! I need to learn the easy way but that requires co-ordinating phone call and time with kid to do so. But for now, Enjoy the pics!!
So says Amma today!

Kodakgallery.com Slideshow

2008-03-03T14:18:00.000-05:00

Kodakgallery.com Slideshow Maybe now these can be viewed!!

New Pictures

2008-02-28T11:39:00.003-05:00

Not sure if this album will show but let's give it a shot. These are pictures of our son, my granddaughter, and NH snow this year. Hope you like them!

New Bed

2008-02-24T12:25:00.002-05:00

Phew! That was certainly a bit draining. I went out yesterday and (altho we've been somewhat discussing the issue) finally purchased one side bed rail for the un-occupied twin bed in Imp Master J's room. He's been in a crib since we were first blessed with his presence, just over two years ago. He came to us a 14 month old and now he's just a few months past the ripe old age of 3 so we thought it might be time to at least try to get him into the "big boy" bed. This should be interesting to see if this somewhat hyper, autistic little guy will understand the "no getting out" rule previously established with any of our toddlers in the past. Finally getting all the instructions to make sense and put the rail together, we marched off to J's room to remove the mattress and try to get this thing in it's proper place. Put mattress back, adjust the straps that attach to the blocks on the other side and pull tight. Carefully conceal excess strap under the mattress (for sure if they're found they will be thoroughly chewed!). Throw in kid's favorite binky. Insert kid.
Kid goes to binky like a magnet. Tell kid to stay in only for sleep. We sign "sleep" and cross our fingers. The first test will be in a few hours when kid takes his "snooze cruise" (nap). He seems to like this new arrangement and I carefully lift him out of the bed with the rail up so to make him think it's very similar to the crib. The crib, still standing, is at the foot of the new bed, lying in wait, just in case. We vow to be diligent in our quest to transition Mr. Hoppy to his new surroundings. He loves to jump on the bed and in the crib but after reminding him to not jump on the bed he now jumps only on his knees. I'm surprised crib hasn't fallen apart. Lately, when I've put him to bed at night, I'd noticed that he hasn't far to go before, strecthed out, his little feet will reach the end of the crib and so it must be now that the big boy bed be slowly introduced. We stand at our guard: "Ready, Steady, Go!"

So says Amma today.

Imp Master J.

2008-01-23T09:33:00.000-05:00

Well here we are folks. The moment has finally arrived. Our son, the most beautiful, adorable, cutest kid anywhere on the planet has finally hit the terrible two's. We've been fostering this babe since he was 14 months old and are finally on the adoption track. But lately, I've been having my doubts (not seriously). J. was diagnosed with mid-range ASD last year and on some levels he's in the early toddler/older baby stage. We only needed to close a door to any room and he would not enter where he shouldn't be. In the last week or so, that rule no longer applies. Twice last week he opened the door to the main bathroom and twice I had to replace the brand new rolls of toilet paper. I finally gave up the tp stand and put the roll on an upper shelf of the etagere' above the toilet. We also kept a few things on the window sill that has his dresser in front of it with the boom box on top. Not anymore. His kid size table makes a great "stand" upon which he climbs to get any of the fascinating items once kept on the sill. These little gems now reside on a much higher shelf in his closet. We also kept a small collection of his favorite books on the entertainment center, supposedly out of his reach. Innovative little J. stands on a rocking chair next to the entertainment center and pulls all the books down at once and remains standing while he picks his current favorite read and then climbs down to read it.
The privy in our bedroom conceals his favorite toy of all: The toilet scrub brush! Generally, he keeps it out of his mouth. Yummy treats to eat he saves for the toilet paper he just unravelled from the roll. I don't bother re-rolling the paper. It's too time consuming and it just pisses me off. Sometimes I just want to give him back or maybe just keep him until somebody else adopts him. But of course we love the little tyke and we've all formed a very strong bond, regardless of the hard work involved in raising a child with Autism. So I think I'll welcome nap time this afternoon and have a good stiff drink, which if it weren't damaging to him, I'd let him have one, too.nd a good stiff drink which would be even better if I could share it with him!
We had called him "Poop Master J." for obvious reasons but for now he has been renamed to "Imp Master J." Does this ever end??????????
So says Amma today.

Addendum to today's blog

2008-01-14T07:54:00.001-05:00

I almost forgot! Hubby made a lateral move with his company and will be covering the northeast which includes part of NY, CT, RI, LI, and my beloved NJ!! He commented that maybe I could be on vacation in south Jersey when he has to be there for business and so might vaca together. I said that maybe there's hope yet for a move back "home". We'll just have to wait and see, especially since it's way more expensive to live there than here. But I think we could manage. For now, I call it the 5 year plan so we'll just have to wait and see. Last summer was more of a working vacation since we stayed at my neice's house while they went to Wildwood for the week. I think it was a little too much for me and the grandkids so hopefully we can rent something this year.

Keeping my fingers crossed and praying daily!!!

So says amma (again).

Zoom!

2008-01-14T07:31:00.000-05:00

I've been wondering if a new computer would be in my future. But, thanks to husband's twin (he and his family were here for Turkey Day), I learned that I needed (1) a new mouse and (2) more memory. So after Christmas, as I set about helping my grandson cash in some of his gift cards at Best Buy, all by myself I picked out a new mouse and hubby actually installed it. Not that I couldn't but I wasn't home and I showed him and he did it. The old one I assumed was a male with only one ball and it appeared as tho that one had been badly castrated. I could barely click and drag just playing solitaire. Even tho the old one was a "Dell", flipping it over it said Logitech and so I replaced it's tired old ball with a Logitech 3x optical. What a huge difference!

Also, as a Christmas gift, hubby got me an e-gift cert from Dell and after searching, bought a 1G memory card. I'm not computer savvy by any means but when it finally arrived, I had to call kid to ask how the heck to open the "tower" so I could put the thing in. I finally figured it out on my own and following most of the directions, got that bad boy installed and it's awesome!!

Even hubby was impressed, mostly because a site he needed to check some of our accounts on he could never get into before just because the 'puter was sooooo slooooooow. Now he was done in mere minutes. I'm impressed myself so now I'll be blogging more often just because I don't have to wait forever to get to where I want to go. So thanks to kid and bubby for they're help and input. And today is a good day to play on the computer thanks to mother nature and her dumping more snow on the entire northeast. It started about 3:30 this morning and we have predictions of up to an inch an hour. No one has school today and we already have a few inches out there. It's not supposed to stop till later today. Thank goodness we hired someone to plow our driveway so poor hubby can get in when he returns from work. At least today he had the 4WD vehicle.

On a lighter than snow note......JMS went to pre-school last Thursday and didn't cry the whole day! The only crying was when they assemble the tykes to go outside for a walk and he thought he was going home. At least we made it through without throwing up and crying all morning. He's still happy to see me and glad to get home.

Next on the agenda, kid needs to call me if she hasn't spoken to her sister in the past couple of days. I've got some dirt to dish that she'll love but we'll see how long this good news will last.

Also, thanks to Courtney for your kind words. We'll have to get together one of these days and show off our beautiful boys!

So says Amma.

Recap 2007

2008-01-09T12:13:00.000-05:00

2007 was a whirlwind with lots of goings on. We barely settled into our new home and things started happening. We got a "new " car late in '06 and it's been totally awesome. It's an '05 Saturn Relay with automatic sliding doors and most important, a flip down DVD screen. This keeps our soon to be adopted son occupied with now unlimited "Thomas the Tank Engine" movies. As we moved into 2007, we finally started getting the speech therapy needed for our little guy and the therapist (an awesome girl!) gently suggested we think about getting into behavorial testing for autism. All I remember her saying was that Autism is on a huge spectrum. I continued to be in denial but in the back of my mind I knew something wasn't right.
So she got us the referral and we finally got the birthmom to sign all the needed paperwork.

In late April, I lost my beloved Aunt Helen. She's my mom's younger sister and they shared the same birthday. Mom is 5 years older. I really enjoyed e-mailing with her as she was a rather avid computer user. Some years ago she managed to put together quite a family history using the net and it was pretty interesting. Needless to say, it was a sad day for all of us who travelled from as far as the northwest to attend services. It was also great to see all my cousins that I haven't seen (some) in years. Most of us got together for lunch before some of us had to dash off to the airport. I also had the good fortune to visit with an old friend of my aunt's that I hadn't seen since the last of the big weddings of one of Auntie's girls. My aunt and her friend were born a day apart and met in high school and became lifelong chums. When this lady told her mother my aunt's last name, her mom recalled being in the hospital with my grandmother. They didn't know it till high school that they'd actually met at birth! I try to send this lovely lady a note now and then but haven't heard anything back. I'm thinking of calling her to see how she is. I know she never married or had kids and she seemed like she might have a little dementia. She lives in an assisted living apartment. She was still working, part time, taking the train into New York. Her last day of work, she never did get to the office, only as far as Newark and after some couple of hours of delay, went home. That was on 9/11.

In May, I felt a little pain and ignored it. A week or so later, it came back and I got in to see the doctor right away. I scheduled a mammogram and bone density scan since it had been a couple years since the last ones and on June 6 got those done. I flunked both. I have osteoporosis and now take Boniva and try to watch the salt and caffeine. The left breast showed a couple areas of calcifications and I was soon referred to a surgeon. I had a stereo tactic biopsy done (by a doctor who was born at the same hospital I was and also grew up in NJ so that was cool because we talked a lot about "home"). That was June 18 and the results showed I had cancer but it was non-invasive. After discussing the results with the surgeon, I said I'd rather have the whole thing removed because as he described, he might not be able to get it all with lumpectomies of 2 areas and I can get immediate reconstruction. So off to the plastic surgeon to discuss all that and get triple checked before the "Big Day". I also had to quit the butts.

Next up on the menu was our son's testing at Dartmouth Hitchcock in Lebanon, NH. This was supposed to take place Sept. 5 but they had a cancellation so we could look forward to Aug. 16 instead.

In between all this brou ha ha, the state took J.'s birthmom to court in June to terminate the parental rights or do a mediated adoption. The alleged father couldn't be found so his rights to J. were terminated that day. Birthmom wanted the mediated adoption. We got all our meeting and court dates together and she never showed. She also has another child she was going to do the same thing and never showed for that meeting. Seems birthmom broke up with her boyfriend in RI and moved back to NH. And has a miscarriage. She requested to see J. on Aug. 17 and so we went. She still wanted to mediate and was going to call her lawyer. She also got the test results from Dartmouth. Yes, J. was indeed diagnosed with Austism Spectrum Disorder (mid-range) and she said she wanted to go to all his doctor appointments. I had to explain that he'd be getting therapy at home (mine) and that this is not a disease but a neurological disorder. He cried when he saw her and I decided that this was the last time I would subject him to this trauma. But we needed more paperwork signed so we had to put up with it.

On Aug.21 I had my surgery. All went well and from the pathology report, the surgeon got it all. Good news was no chemo or radiation. Now I pretty much belong to the plastic surgeon or "boob" guy. I was referred to an oncologist and was able to get into a study that has me taking an anti-estrogen for the next 5 years and I don't have to pay for these very expensive pills.

On Dec.13 I had the other boob reduced and lifted so it matches the new boob better. Boob guy took a tissue sample and I only recently learned that there was a cancer there but boob guy got all that and it was non-invasive as well. The one that had the masectomy was supposed to be but in the 2 months before surgery it had become invasive. Again, all was removed so I should be looking a longer life!! Thanks to God and all my friends and family that prayed for me.

On November 20 birthmom had her parental rights terminated. She didn't show for court and called the case worker demanding to see J. and was refused!! She claims she didn't know when court was and after swearing and yelling ended the conversation with "I'm gonna find him". Fat chance of that since she doesn't work, drive or have a clue where we live so too bad. It's a shame that she puts herself before the welfare of her children and I'm sure her heart will be heavy for a long time but maybe it's part of God's plan.

And with the new year, J. has finally started his special ed preschool. I had to become an educational surrogate because we couldn't locate birthmom to sign the paperwork this time.
But the best news is that we have FINALLY started the adoption process. If we get all this paperwork of our own filled out and we also need to get fingerprinted, then JAYDEN MAGNUS STEVENSON will officially join our family by the beginning of April.

I trust you've all had a great 2007 and look forward to an even better 2008. As for me, all is well. (It's part of God's plan!)

So says Amma.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-12T09:08:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again folks. That joyous time when we find the need to spend money we don't have on gifts we hope don't come back to us for people we don't like. Actually, in our house we have a rule: I buy for us and my side of the family, you buy me jewelry. Not too hard a rule now, is it?? Husband does have to buy for his side of the family since that's only for 5 people. I have 3 kids, 3 grandkids, 2 brothers, my sister-in-law, and mom. This year, my sister-in-law requested that we not buy her and my brother anything but instead make a donation to a charity in their names. What a splendid idea! My grandson wants giftcards to his favorite clothing stores and I all ready got granddaughter Mia her gift (which was actually for her mom but will be Mia's about 18 years from now.) I still like the grandkids that will be here to have something under the tree, especially messy J. who's all about the princess. Hopefully, I'll get her list soon. I've gotten all I can for our own little man, who just turned 3. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine so he's easy to please.

Speaking of our little man, he's now free for adoption, the birth mom's rights have finally been terminated so we will soon be starting the adoption procedures. If all goes well, we should be changing his last (and middle) name in about 3 months.

He just accompanied me on a short trip to sunny Florida to visit his big sister and 1 year old neice. He seemed to really enjoy going outside on the "lanai" sans shoes and socks and no long sleeve shirts or coats. It was a little warmer than usual for December, about 85 everyday. It was just a bit too humid but it sure beat 10 inches of snow and temps below 20! I was reluctant to return and had it not been for the fact that we had various appointments this week, I'd have stayed longer. We had a great time bonding, shopping and just hanging out. If it weren't so flat and humid I might give thought to moving.

This week we met with our son's preschool to get him started (finally) because his in home therapy just ended. Because he turned 3, he now gets to go to preschool. So next week he starts school and I had to be appointed his educational surrogate since we could never obtain the parental signatures needed. That was quite a process and among other reports from everyone, I had to train and take quite a test, which I scored 93 1/2%. Passing was 70% so I guess I did ok. Now I just need a letter signed by the judge saying bio-mom's rights have been terminated otherwise she can have access to him according to the school. I don't think she could beging to find him so I'm not too worried since she had threatened the case worker that she was going to.

And as we Swedes celebrate St.Lucia Day this Thursday December 13th, I'll be getting the right booby fixed up so it looks more like the left booby which was removed and replaced last August. This won't be anything like the last surgery so I'm glad for that. I always wanted a new "rack" so this is my Christmas gift. Unfortunately I had to get breast cancer, but fortunately the insurance company pays for it.....somewhat. That's a rant for another day.

And so I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful holiday filled with love, family, friends, and gifts!

New Look

2007-10-26T11:40:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone likes my new template. I'm not that computer savvy that I can create these beautiful or interesting templates like some I've seen but this looked pretty neat so it's staying, at least until the kid comes home to visit and can change things around for me.
Speaking of kid, I was looking forward to her coming home because of some issues that were plaguing her but with help from her fantastic bf, she remains at her current domain. I now look forward to a visit (maybe nest year???) from the deliriously happy couple as I can't wait to meet the man that has stolen my little girl's heart. Anyone that can get her to eat a bite of sushi has to be nothing short of a phenom!

We're all faring rather well here. The weather is getting crisper and while most of the leaves have left the trees, our aspens have finally turned their golden fall hue and continue to quake in the soft breezes. I have a pair of gold dipped aspen leaf earrings that I picked up at Garden of the Gods in Colorado that I wear to celebrate the fall season (as it was fall when we visited Colorado). Too soon it will be Thanksgiving when we'll be baking those apple and pumkin pies and other goodies and sharing it with a houseful of people we're related to.

Next month will also begin the start of another step towards the adoption of our too adorable,albeit autistic, foster son. We were told that the long end of the process would take about six months so we are praying that he will be officially ours before the official start of summer. He does quite well with his therapy and seems to master some of the behaviroal skills he's taught rather quickly. There are pictures all over my house so that he can make his requests since he is basically non-verbal. A very sweet, loving little guy, he is. At this point we are now comfortable with the fact that he's not going to have to leave us or be returned to the awful situation he was in that brought him to us. We're just happy that he's here and we strive to be the best parents he could ever have.

And now that hunting season has begun, husband will be going to Maine with his trusty bow and arrows to the opening of deer season. Using a rifle to "bag" a deer isn't allowed. That will be the week of Thanksgiving. Hopefully he will be successful again this year since I do like red meat and good ol' beef is getting out of my price range. We are still enjoying "Buck" from last year.
I do tend to add beef broth and/or bullion whenever since I'm not that big a fan of "free range deer" but since it's basically free food, I have no problem partaking in the bounty!

Now I'm off to the card store to select the bestest card for the prettiest baby ever. Granddaughter Mia will be celebrating her 1st birthday one week from today. According to her mommy (my youngest baby), she's moving about quite well in her walker and ready to take her first steps. I regret that I can't be there but in another month I will be and that will certainly give me cause de celebre'! Me and my son will whisk off for a glorious 3 days in sunny Florida and I can finally meet my beautiful Mia. She was born nearly 2 months premature but from the pictures I've seen she doesn't look (or act) at all like it! A true blessing, indeed!

I'm Peeved

2007-09-24T09:38:00.000-04:00

Yes, I'm peeved. I read all kinds of catalogs and just when I have the $$ to do something new I get shot down. The thing that bothers me is I would like to update my bedroom by getting a new quilt or comforter and when I peruse all the catalogues I have, I can't seem to find anything that's Queen size. Why, why, why do they all have to be full/queen. Not full. Not queen. Full/Queen. As if it were a one size fits all. They fit perfectly on the full size bed but they come up a little short on the sides of the queen size bed. And getting a King size is just way too much for the littl queen. Sheets come is the basic four sizes, why not quilts and comforters??? The only catalogue that seems to come close is LL Bean. So after weeks of shopping around in both stores and catalogues, LL wins. Not my first or sometimes even my second choice but it fits. And what amazes me is that brands like Ralph, Tommy, and Liz charge megabucks for their beautiful designs and still can't manage to come up with a separate, larger than full size, Queen size bedding outfit. And the shams (except for King size) are all standard size. Which means that the queen size pillows I have are currently stuffed into a case or sham that's just a little small. Better this than having an extra yard of material with nothing in it. You'd think that queen size beds are a thing of the past, which full size beds seem to be. And rooms aren't always big enough to accomodate a king size bed. In our old house, maybe but not here. If anyone knows who sells some really nice bedding in numerous pattern selections that's affordable, please let me know. Personally, I think it's a conspiracy of the textile industry.

My other peeve has been the onslaught of celebrity "do-gooders" that all want to tell the world how they are dealing with their austistic children. They all seem to have both time and money to "treat" their child's autism with special diets and miracle drops and powders. They can afford to have chefs and kitchen staff as well as therapists that can be there 24/7. The only thing you don't hear about is the child that is born with autism. Like the children with Fragile X syndrome. What can you tell me about those kids??? We are adopting our foster son and this is his problem. Fragile X. There are no quick fixes, no special foods, nothing to add to his juice to make him "better". Just good old therapy that is allowed him by law as well as special ed when he turns three. Then the school takes over and the therapists he now has are done. Thankfully, he's had one therapist for nearly a year that's been using a lot of the methods usually used for autistic kids to treat what was determined to be a speech delay. He was retested for his delvelopment by a different group and he was determined by them to have much more than a speech delay. And this group referred us to Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital to have him tested behaviorally. This is where he was diagnosed with autism and the bloodwork done that determined Fragile X. I wish these well meaning movie stars would stop looking only at their own situations and discussing it on Oprah and get the doctors and therapists on these talk shows that can include the kids who are born with this disorder. It doesn't have to be devastating or a horrific setback. Our son is beautiful and active. We work with him everyday. He's beginning to master a lot of skills. He won't be toilet training for quite some time. He still eats a lot of junior baby foods. He doesn't talk. A lot of the things he does are part of being autistic. He wasn't born with a yeast infection (Candida) and it wasn't due to some early innoculations, especially ones containing mercury. There is no quick or miracle cure. He will always be autistic. We can only hope that he will be able to be independent and able to live normally when he grows up. So to the movie stars: Quit whining and then praising yourselves for even having a child with autism that YOU discovered how to treat and how YOU made his life so much better. You are doing NOTHING to help MY child or the countless others with Fragile X or other genetic causes of autism.
Maybe my son will grow up to own a textile factory that makes only queen size bedding!!!

My Left Booby

2007-09-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

I know I haven't blogged for weeks so here's the latest.

On August 21 I had my left boob removed due to "non-invasive" cancer, along with 2 lymph nodes. And a new boob (implant) was put in it's place. I stayed overnight in the hospital, which was considered "outpatient" according to the insurance company which is all they will pay for. If anyone gets the chance, go to Lifetime.com (the tv station) and sign the petition they have going about "drive by masectomies". It seems that some women only get day surgery and never get to stay in the hospital at all. This type of coverage is becoming more and more the norm with insurance companies where yourself or a family member is expected to give you professional nursing care after your surgery. Next thing you know, organ transplants will be considered "outpatient" care. It'll be likened to having a tooth pulled.
This really pisses me off that so many have to suffer for this and the insurance companies seem to deem themselves the professionals in charge of how much (or how little) care we receive. When I had my children (both by c-section) I spent a week in the hospital. I could hardly walk or stand up straight. Today, a c-section will get you MAYBE 2 days in hospital. Never mind that it usually takes 2 or 3 days for anything to appear with a newborn.
Of course it's ridiculous to pay such high premiums for such lousy service and the hospitals that are "for profit" charge so much it borders on evil.

I think we could all benefit from some type of charging "cap" by hospitals and have some sort of socialized plan so people even with insurance could afford to pay the bills. Which is another thing: The hospital's billing department wastes no time in calling and asking when you plan to pay the bill......they too have no consideration for the sick and recovering (or dying). They just want their money.

I wish I had slipped over the border illegally so I could get free medical care whenever I needed it. Maybe that's another way we could cut down on exorbitant costs that legal residents have to pay. Just let the border patrol do their jobs and keep the illegals out. Period. No excuses. Maybe then we won't have to foot the bills for them and we could afford decent health care and post surgical care.

So rants Amma today.

New meanings

2007-08-08T10:31:00.000-04:00

It's been one of those days when you have nothing better to do than think up stupid stuff. You do this because you're over stressed and all the important thoughts have taken a toll on your now "full" brain. So while I stopped at the local Dunkin's for some sweet drinks for me and Bubba, I let one go. That's right. I farted. C'mon, now! We all do it but when I do it in front of Bubba (soon to be 14 years old) it's like a competition has begun. Except, this time instead of telling him I farted, I said that I "booty-tooted". That led on to nearly an hour of hilarity with names and meanings that I kept thinking of for the pure pleasure of side splitting laughter. Herewith is some of my new vocabulary:

Booty-toot: fart
Inserting my toes in your tooter: kick your ass
Stuffin' toot: anal sex
toot stuffed: anal retentive
spreading booty: random sex

Let's see what other witty "bootyisms" we can come up with and I'll post them to my blog. There are a few more I could put here but I didn't want to be to crass so I'll leave that up to any of my readers.

So says Amma today!

Lots to Learn

2007-08-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

I just got done looking up some stuff about autism. We're fairly certain that our most adorable son is autistic, or rather, has autism spectrum disorder. So I went to the good old web and Holy Crap! was I surprised. There's so much info that by the time I read everything I should instantly be awarded a bachelors degree! So far, I've figured out that a lot of the therapies that are used to teach autistic kids are exactly the same ones that his speech therapist uses. I've also kinda figured out that he's a high functioning autistic which means it's very possible that he can learn enough so that he might even attend college one day. Now all I have to do is get hard working, minimal time for anything dad to read up on this stuff so he'll be informed as well. So I decided to try to print all this stuff out and of course my computer is sloooooooooow and then I had to order ink and blah blah blah. It's been a fun day, but a good learning experience. One that I'll be learning for quite awhile.

Meanwhile, other daughter had an "incident" with her uncle (my brother aka "black sheep") and has now decided that he needs to be in a supervised home of some kind because she can't deal with him anymore. After some discussion about this, I totally agree. He has his medical and physical ailments which include Busch beer so it's not too good having him around baby Mia.
At this point all we can do is say a prayer and wish him well. Elder care is tough, especially when you live in a state that gives you so few resources. At least it's different when you need to take care of a child, then there's tons of stuff for the kids. It's just that the child can't be 62 years old! I just hope my kids would want to take care of me but that I'm not so bad that we can't enjoy each other. Otherwise, put me in a home! Or send me to Sweden where they actually take care of their elderly.....for free! At least I'll finally get to see Sweden, my lifelong travel dream.
Tomorrow it's on to Mass. to celebrate Messy J's 8th birthday with a big cookout and bash at some local park. We'll pick up big brother Bubba on the way and it looks like the weather will be good so we look forward to having a blast. I hear there'll be a clown with balloons which son will be thrilled with so I'm off to bed to rest up for all the driving and fun.

So ends Amma's rants of the day.

Another month

2007-08-01T08:11:00.000-04:00

Well, another month has passed by. Nonetheless, Happy August and Happy Birthday to Jessie who turns 8 today. She's the granddaughter who has the same red hair as her aunty along with the same stubborn Swede streak. Big cookout party on Saturday for her. Now I just need to find her something really cool for an 8 year old besides Barbie and Polly Pockets. Maybe it's time we got her interested in reading. Off to the bookstore then!

Huz and I saw the boob guy yesterday and got informed. I also got sized up for implants which huz seemed to enjoy watching. It was actually pretty interesting stuff but we were left wondering that after the new boob is done and doesn't quite match the right one, will we have to pay for "symmetry"? I think it's an option to have a "lift" done to old boob but I don't think insurance will pay and boob guy thinks I'd probably want it done. More $$$ to spend that won't be going to the retirement fund. Now I just need to know how much the tummy tuck is and maybe we can get that done before the 2008 bathing suit season!! And when I win the lottery, I won't care how much I spend.......I'm doing it all!!

Speaking of the lottery: Have you ever been at the store when someone is cashing in on their small lottery winnings and they win like $100 and instead of doing something like buy a week's groceries (they usually look like they could use some food) they just spend it on more lottery tickets???? I once hit it big for just over $500 and I spread the wealth. My grandson was soon to be born so I paid off his mom's layaway of baby stuff, bought more baby stuff and used the rest to buy a few things for the house and for upcoming vacation. I don't even think I bought another lottery ticket right away. People don't realize that instead of narrowing the chances of winning they actually increase (big time) the odds of winning. These are the same people that have a "strategy" when they hit the casinos in Vegas. Any thoughts here??

So ends Amma's rant of the day. Have a fabulous August. Enjoy the rest of summer.

Another Day in Blogland

2007-07-30T20:39:00.000-04:00

First, thanks to Macoosh and kid for welcoming me and helping me get this blog going. It's nice to know there are actually people at the end of the blog!

Today I played kitchen wench, something I don't often do. Don't get me wrong....I can cook and I can sometimes get creative but today I was on a roll. I baked some kind of berry crumb cobbler thing and then fried up the green peppers and onions. I picked some basil from the garden (OMG! Our 1st garden. Hope I don't turn into earth woman) I made this chicken dish with chopped tomatoes, a fresh zucchini, a can of cream of celery soup and of course the basil. Made some tuna salad for lunches and now I'm pooped. But not too tired to eat. You see, because of my upcoming surgery, I quit smoking a couple weeks ago and I've not been without regular food or chocolate since. I've only gained about 4 pounds so far but I'm waiting until after surgery to start dieting. Maybe I'll throw in some different exercises, too. Toddler chasing has helped me keep my weight in check but I'd like to lose a bit more poundage. And with new titties, I might be more inclined to trim down a bit.

Well, another day has slipped by and I'm ready to turn in. I think we're getting a big t-storm, judging by the sound of thunder not so far off. I don't mind the noise while I try to drift off . I just hate those ginormous thunder claps that sound as though your roof is about to fly off and your're wondering where your ruby slippers are!

So that's all for now. Tomorrow, huz and I see my plastic surgeon (aka "the boob guy") so he can explain in detail all the horrors that I shall endure and who gets to change the dressing with an accent on "sex at this time is probably not conducive to your wife's recovery". At least I hope that's what he says. I think after all this is over, poor huz will welcome changing nuclear diapers any time!

Welcome to my blog

2007-07-29T20:09:00.000-04:00

I finally decided to "blog it up" and start ranting. Or maybe just start looking for comments to anything I decide to write.

These days Amma has a lot on her mind. Last month, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. But not to worry. It's non-invasive and rather than opt for a lumpectomy, I'll get the whole thing removed and get a new one. I'm finding out more and more about this whole procedure and the fact that insurance covers replacement boobs is awesome! And since my right one may now not look as good as my new left one, the plastic guy will "alter" that one, too. Unfortunately, I can't use the belly fat for replacement due to the c-section scare from so long ago. But I do get a new rack and it will be a little higher than the current one.

So my outlook is positive, even tho my surgeon likes to throw me a slight "curve" once in awhile.
And it'll all be overwith in 3 weeks and then I can get back to being foster mom to a delightful 2 year old that we'll be adopting. I'm nuts and I know it but the kids keep you young and I really hate getting old!