Non diagnosis

My grandson who is 2/3 of the way through the diagnosis process, has been labeled ADHD. This is a non-active, mostly very calm child who loves to sit in front of a computer every day. or, if sent to his room, is capable of sitting there, staring at the wall for an hour. So I just don't get the ADHD thing.

My daughter has decided to not go through with this process, at least not with these doctors. She's seeing these particular doctors because her insurance is paying for it. But her autistic daughter sees an excellent doctor, who we all feel is more capable of understanding just where my grandson lies on the spectrum or off it. Hopefully he will be going there soon, so here too, we are back at the beginning.

He had a meltdown day a couple of days ago. He pretty much raged all day, which is the worst it's been so far. I'm thinking the stress of daddy's deployment is starting to show. He's the oldest child, the only boy, and typically very helpful. Sometimes I think he feels too much responsibility.

He usually enjoys being helpful. He hogs being helpful, not wanting his younger sister in on the game. But it was a simple request that set him off this time, and he was out of sorts until bedtime. He's ten. I'm afraid growing through the teen years may turn out to be tough for him.


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When the body is sad....

"When the body is sad, the heart languishes." Albert Camus

I'm doing a little contemplating on this today. I like the way Camus describes this. I don't think I've ever thought about the body feeling sad. Hurting, in pain, or feeling healthy and alive, yes. But not sad.

We are so tied to our physical reality, and often at the same time very unobservant of it.

My body is certainly needing some time for rest and recuperation right now. I was told today that my intercostal muscle might not be back to normal for 6-8 weeks. Patience! I was hoping a couple of weeks would do it. But at the current rate of recovery, the longer prediction looks likely to be accurate.

I feel somewhat defeated in this because I really do want to get in better shape physically, but that's not possible when you can't take a full breath. I am going to have to learn to be content with very small steps.

So instead of having a goal to get into shape, I have a goal of being able to do my alignment exercises without pulling a rib out of place. I think I need to break that one down smaller as well. Perhaps just one exercise without pulling anything out.

Once again back at the beginning.

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Slow Recovery

I've been doing a lot of resting to recover from my strained intercostal muscle. It's slowly getting better, but I mean slooowly. As in, there isn't noticeable improvement on a daily basis. Maybe every 3-4 days. But at least it is heading in the right direction!

Listening to The Digi Show while I catalogue this kit called Brighter Days  which is a collab kit to benefit scrapbook designer Zoe Pearn's family. They lost everything in the flood in Australia. Tons of goodies in the kit. Take a look.

I'm also doing some thinking/reading about habits. Especially reading Zen Habits by Leo Babauta and his posts about developing habits. The habit I'm wanting to develop is exercise. This remains a huge challenge to me due to always running into metaphorical walls. I'm suspecting it could be due to fibromyalgia. I have to be extremely careful not to overdo it. So I'm going to do some thinking and reading first, then start with one small little habit or exercising on a very limited basis just to develop the habit of moving more.

I know I need this.

When one part suffers...I Cor. 12:26

Today I'm a living example of this scripture. I have something wrong in one very small, specific part of my body. But it is affecting every other part.

I have this tendency to pull ribs out of place from simple activities like getting up off the floor. Or sleeping. Mostly they have been in my back, but today it's at the sternum, making moving and even breathing painful. We seem to have some kind of collagen disorder in the family, and this is one of its manifestations.

It's only one, small, specific problem. One little rib not quite where it should be. But oh, it makes me wince.

One of the things I love about the Bible is how lessons are drawn from everyday things. We've all suffered from some type of body ache or pain, some much more painful than others. We all know how much our total being is affected by each one. We can relate.

Paul is using this simple, everyday example to illustrate the unity and empathy within the church. When one suffers, we all suffer. To the degree we have the heart of God within us, we will care for one another like our whole body cares when we hit our finger with a hammer. We don't have to conjure up caring in the latter case. It's automatic because it is, after all, our body, with each part interwoven and effected by all the other parts.

Likewise, the body of believers does not have to work up empathy for hurting brothers and sisters. If the empathy isn't there, then I would question how much our lives are really yielding to what God is speaking to our hearts.

When we are in pain, our functioning is impaired according to the level of pain. I, for one, am pretty useless in terms of my personal activity when I'm hurting.

I think God's people are similarly effected when another member is hurting. Normal activity is not effective until healing has occurred. It isn't helpful to focus on normal functioning. Normal functioning is not possible. Everyday body life cannot go on until there is a cure for the wounding.


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Things We Love: Food

My grandchildren love doughnuts. Who doesn't? DH has to go to a bit of trouble to get these for them. That's because there is no Krispy Kreme store here. Not on this island. He buys them when he's on trips to Maui. So they are rare. But oh they are loved. The rainbow sprinkle ones are their favorite.

This photo made me realize I really want some white plates. Especially when compared to these pictures of the doughnuts in the box.

The plain glazed ones are for their uncle. Because I can't eat any. And DH shouldn't eat any. I'm gluten intolerant, and we are both on a low carb diet. Me for weight, him for health reasons.  So these lovelies are hanging around the house waiting for them to eat them. 

The grandchildren would eat them all in a day of course. Their uncle, being an adult, knows that it's better to savor one or two a day.

Enjoy the little things

"Enjoy the little things in life for some day you will realize they were the big things"


I saw this quote on the web with no attribution, so I have no clue who said it, but I love it.

I'm enjoying the little things this morning.

Sunshine in the garden
My favorite cup of coffee while I read blogs on my iPad
Time to have a slow morning
My grandson's politeness
His morning hair
My granddaughter's sweet smile
The breeze blowing the curtains in the living room
Birds chirping and cooing
Blue - just about anything blue






Including new blue pillows on my blue couch from Target.


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One Little Word January

I am so, so happy how this turned out. The colored papers are embossed papers from the Parisian Anthology collection by Pink Paislee. They come in light colors, with embossing over muted patterns. They ink up so lovely!

Thanks, Trish, for brining out your perfect color Ranger distress ink! I should have written down the color, but I did not. Sorry!

All my little test scraps are also very lovely & are being saved for later use.

Childhood Memories

Here's my childhood memories page for my Yesterday & Today class. It was fun looking back through old photos and thinking about my childhood. I included my grandfather that I never met because of my memories of hearing about his wooden leg. I finally found out why he had a wooden leg when I emailed with my siblings about him. I love eliciting their memories of things that happened before I was born.

I'm thinking of making another two page spread to match this for my husband's childhood as well. But not right now!

The grandchildren are doing more scrap booking today and making valentines cards for their mom & dad. I'm hoping to get a few lesson plans done and a little work on researching  my One Little Word, Grace, in scripture. If I'm really productive I'm hoping to check in on the Library of Memories Community challenge.

Papers in the layout are by Jen Allyson at Design House Digital. Layout design by Ali Edwards. Class at Big Picture Classes.

Story List

After doing a survery of my Library of Memories albums for Ali Edwards' Yesterday & Today class at Big Picture Classes, I completely (well, minus 1) filled my Log Your Memory Story List!

It remains to be seen how many of these will actually get done, but I can certainly never claim I don't know what to scrap!

Another Day

It's so lovely I had to post another picture. The packaging was lovely too.

Last night was scrapbooking with the older two grandchildren. We scanned through my photos of each of them and they picked their favorites. I printed out five for each of them to put in their albums, then I gave them each a sticky label to write what the picture is about. I want to get them in the habit of documenting their photos - even if it's just things like "We had this dog when I was little".

Both of them were awake really late last night, so they didn't get up until 9:00 this morning! I think I'm going to have to start getting them up earlier in the morning so they'll sleep at night. I just start reading blog posts in the morning and lose track of the time.

The youngest of the three arrives this evening after I'm done working. Her big sister misses her.

Their mom safely arrived in Singapore in spite of leaving here 2 1/2 hours late (with a 3 hour "layover" scheduled in Japan). She almost missed the plane in Japan. Thankfully, she had a friend on the plane who called her while she was getting off the first plane, and told the crew on the second plane to wait (and they did). The crew on the first plane was not at all helpful with her getting off first to make her connection or anything. Both flights were Delta flights, but they didn't contact the second to say, hang on for a bit, we've got a connecting passenger and we're taxi-ing to the terminal right now.


But she made it, and made it to her hotel and hopefully my son-in-law has arrived and they are enjoying a little time together. Long deployments are not fun. 'Nuf said.

I received this lovely little item in the mail this afternoon. It's my one little word in silver from Lisa Leonard Designs. I learned about it from Ali Edwards' Blog blog. I plan on wearing it a lot this year and probably beyond. 

That's it. Just had to share!

Planning for 2011

I posted that I don't make resolutions, and how that doesn't mean I don't have goals.

I've been taking advantage of the New Year thinking to get an overview of the next few months, and some things a bit further out. I'm using my Log Your Memory logbook for all of my scrapbooking plans. That includes a rather long list of pages I've thought of doing. I may or may not get to them. It isn't really a to-do-list (I hate the pressure!) but just a jog-your-memory kind of list. The sort that says "What about doing this?" rather than "Get This Done!"

I have also put what day I need to be thinking about certain scrap booking things I'd like to participate in.

My calendar includes:

1. Log Your Memory chats on Monday
2. Log Your Memory weekly challenge posting dates
3. Library of Memories community challenges 
4. Yesterday & Today lessons
5. One Little Word lessons
6. Monthly Roundup ala Katie the Scrapbooklady
7. The Monthly reminder (Cathy Zielske's templates at Designer Digitals are great for monthly review pages)

That's just January! 

Log Your Memory chats go throughout the year

Log Your Memory weekly challenges go throughout the year

Library of Memories community challenges go throughout the year

Yesterday & Today continues weekly through March

One Little Word goes on monthly throughout the year

Monthly Roundup is monthly

The Monthly is, obviously monthly

It'll be a Happy Scrappy 2011!

New Years Resolutions and why I don't make them

I just read a post that does a pretty good job of explaining my view of New Years resolutions at 43folders. The short version, if you don't want to read the article, is that I don't make resolutions at New Years.

This does not mean I don't spend some time evaluating what I'd like to accomplish or change this year. In my business, I do a regular quarterly review and planning session, setting goals for the following quarter. There are solid, concrete goals I can take action on every week. They help keep me on track with my long term business goals.

In my private life I am participating in Ali Edward's One Little Word project and her class at Big Picture Classes. This is fundamentally a different process than making resolutions. It is finding a word that speaks to you and your life, and being open to the possibilities of that word throughout the year. This one word can turn out to reflect your life as it is, and also to influence your life as it becomes. Sometimes it might reflect a desire for change or self improvement, but it isn't a laundry list of achievements to be conquered. I loved to see how my one word played out in 2010, especially because 2010 was a demanding year in many ways. I'm eagerly looking forward to what becomes of my one word in 2011, even though there is also a little trepidation as well, a reflection of the challenges in 2010 related to my word.

I don't have any specific goals in mind for my word, grace. There isn't some end point I am trying to reach. I have no idea where it will lead me, but I'm sure it will be an interesting journey.

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One Little Word

I've started working today on my One Little Word project, which is an inspiration of Ali Edwards. She is teaching a class over at Big Picture Classes starting now and going on throughout the year. We are going to get monthly prompts, downloads and videos to help us refocus on our word. If you aren't familiar with One Little Word, check out Ali's website and Big Picture Classes. I have only done this one previous year. I was, in fact, not certain I was going to do it again this year until I got notice about the class. Since I am totally in love with every class I've taken from Ali, I knew I had to do it. 

My One Little Word this year is Grace. The letters are Endless Love by Sizzix. I cut them out of orange peel white cardstock from Bazzill, then inked with VersaColor's celadon ink (60) followed by a tiny spritz of Perfect Pearls.

My word came to me on its own and there was simply no denying that it is my word for 2011. This makes me catch my breath. I'm just wondering in what ways I'll be challenged and stretched by grace this year. 

My word in 2010 was Family, and there was one aspect of family this year that was very difficult. It wasn't difficult people, it was difficult circumstances. I was glad, though, to be able to remind myself that Family was my focus this year, and that helped me live out my commitments and challenges. Then too, there was lots of positive, fun family time in 2010. I got to see all of my children and grandchildren this year, even those who live far away. So Family turned out to be a perfect word for 2010. 

I have run into one delay. The page protectors that Ali is using in this album are totally out of stock everywhere. I think it's a testimony to the huge response to Ali's class. At least, I'm assuming it's huge. It certainly deserves to be. We've barely gotten started and I'm loving it already.

This is the beginning of one of this month's tasks. These little cards need to be cut out and decorated and put into the lovely album. But I'm leaving them as it until I can get the page protectors. 

If you're sitting on the fence, jump right in. Here's the link, just to make it easy! 

Monthly Roundup

Inspired by this post from Katie the Scrapbook Lady
http://scrapbooklady.typepad.com/katie_the_scrapbook_lady/2010/12/last-roundup-of-2010.html I decided to post my monthly roundup. I love her questions and plan on including them in my monthly look-back from now on.

This year I've been using Cathy Zielske's digital kit The Monthly found here http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/9744 to document each month in photos and varying amounts of journaling. I plan on continuing in 2011. I rarely get this done at the end of the month, but I start it soon after. It's a great way to quickly scrap the highlights of each month, and still leaves me plenty of options for other kinds of scrap book pages.

Having things written down has made this possible. I'm new to personal blogging, and of course that is helpful in this process. So is my Log Your Memory journal found here http://logyourmemory.corecommerce.com/cart.html. It is designed for scrap bookers, and it's a brilliant concept. I use the 1/2 size print version, but thanks to this post http://logyourmemory.com/2010/12/30/get-an-ipad-for-christmas/ I can now also use it on my iPad, which is my constant companion.

All of that to say, part of my monthly process is to make my Monthly pages, which usually take very little time thanks to the templates & PSE. This is the closest thing I get to chronological scrap booking. Mostly I use the Library of Memories system developed by Stacy Julian at http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/. This system keeps me scrap booking and enjoying every moment.

I don't usually upload my photos monthly. That's a quarterly job for me, but they are all backed up to an external hard drive automatically, so I don't feel pressure to do this monthly. I upload my highlight folders only. I normally star photos in iPhoto when I upload them to the computer from the camera and they go into a smart album of highlights, but I try to check at the end of the month to make sure I've actually done this for all the photos.

Another thing I do at the end of the month is move all the receipts I need to keep from their folder downstairs (thanks Aby Garvey at http://www.simplify101.com/about.php for saving me from paper overload!) to their storage spot upstairs. Having a folder to collect all these receipts for the month in my lovely command center on the kitchen counter has spared me a million trips up the stairs and piles of papers everywhere.

Now I'm off the do my 2010 in review pages!


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New Years with Autism

I don't know what New Years is like where you are, but here fireworks are a BIG deal. Starting about the day after Thanksgiving people start randomly "testing" them out, just to make sure they work, you know.

And then, on New Year's Eve, they let her rip. From sundown until 1 or 2 AM. Some of them are lovely. Some are noisy. And then there are the ones we call concussion bombs. They truly sound and feel like something blew up. Besides just a firework, I mean.

My daughter lives in a neighborhood where people are wildly enthusiastic about fireworks. She and the two girls are asthmatic, one of the girls is autistic. The windows are jalousies, so you can't really shut out the smoky air or dampen the sound.

The older two, ages 8 & 10 love to join the neighbors for all the excitement The younger one, who is autistic, was completely overwhelmed. She would yowl every time a concussion bomb went off. She climbed to the top bunk, pulled the covers over her head and yowled. She would/could not be comforted.

So we went in to rescue her because it isn't quite as smoky or noisy here and we can actually close our windows. She calmed down as soon as she got in the car - it provided good buffer. In the fifteen minutes it took us to drive home, she fell asleep. Even the rush of noise at midnight didn't make her yowl.

There needs to be a safe zone for kids like her, asthmatics, and people who suffer from PTSD. And pets. It would be a compassionate thing to do.

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