This says it all--

Book Club Potluck

Our neighborhood kids book club, adults card club, potluck dinner is at our house this evening. The theme for the meal is "redneck comfort food." I need to come up with salad or veggies. ??? I can't think of a comfort food salad? Iceberg wedges with 1000 Island dressing? Creamy coleslaw? Comfort food veggies seem too soft and mushy to be appealing. Crisp salads don't sound like comfort food either?

Any good ideas?

We are also starting a once a month wine tasting in conjunction with the above mentioned group. We are basing our tastings on a book Andi has. This month is champagne. We pool our money and buy four different bottles, at different price points. Each month we will try a different kind of wine. I may actually learn something! We are even going to take notes so we know what we like.

So, cheers to our great neighbors!

PS The irony of Champagne tasting at the same time we are eating red-neck comfort food is not lost on the group. I just got this email from a neighbor "How does one cleanse the palette with Champagne and tater tot casserole? Do we break out a hunk of Velveta? I think a fine red would go with Taco Bell....or a new Reisling with BK......We are such the aristocratic group, decerning tastes in wine, trailer trash with food. Pass the Ketchup....."

Boise State is #1

We won't even talk about Ohio State. I slept through the second half of the game, Dave is still fuming.

Here is a cute photo of the boys in their new Christmas Brutus Buckeye shirts. Who cares about football when you have cute boys! Notice how thin Alex's hair is on top... That is 10 days of growth after his "haircut."

Doing the same work over and over.

Okay. I'm going to answer my own question. I know why it is so hard to stay organized. I have two kids, and one of them is spectrum.

Joseph helped us this morning by over-turning 3 laundry baskets. I'd folded and sorted all the laundry last night, but not put things away in the drawers, yet. So, I did that job again. Dave had hung all his shirts on a rod in the basement. Joseph climbed on something to reach them, and when no one was looking, took everything off the rod and threw it on the floor. Alex has done his share of things like this, but today it was Joseph.

Why are we short-tempered?

I just put an ad in the student newspaper to find someone to help out with AM childcare and light housekeeping three mornings a week. It seems ridiculous that we can't keep up with our lives, but we can't. My hope is that if Dave and I can both get out of the house by 730 or 8 three mornings a week, with minimal responsibility for anyone other than ourselves, we will have a bit more time and energy in the evening. (I'd rather give up fixing breakfast for A and J three days a week and have time and energy to cook dinner and do homework after school...

On a positive note, I saw Dave's new office and it is beautiful. Big, good windows, clean, and cluttered, but pretty well-organized. (That seems like an oximoron, but it seems like well-organized clutter to me.)

Organization

Why is it so hard for me to stay organized? Because I don't put things away, and I don't throw things away, and I have too much junk!

I guess this will be my New Year's resolution. To get a grip on the piles of junk that surround me. (Notice, I'm blogging about it, and not doing it!)

The junk surrounds me at my office and at home. Alex lost his reading book this morning, I can't find anything on my desk at the office...

ARRGH!

Happy New Year and Alex's haircut...

Here's to the next 365! The years do roll along at an alarming rate.

Read Sarah's blog about her 2006. She is a wise, wise, wise young woman! I admire her very much.

We went to Trish's wedding on Saturday. Trish is another of Joseph's tutors. I forgot the camera, so no pictures of the beautiful bride, or of her hugging Joseph or dancing with Joseph. All will have to be preserved in memory!

We had a fun evening. We sat with two other families who benefit from Trish's services. The other children stayed at home, so Joseph was the only one representing the the spectrum at the table, and he behaved very well. Made us proud and the other families jealous. Way to go Joe-bear. It was fun to trade stories, strategies, laughs, and sympathy with other families that face similar challenges every day.

Alex did not attend the wedding. He had a mild cold and I hired a babysitter at the last minute. Spent $75 I had not expected to spend that day. However, it was money well spent. Alex wasn't really sick, but I was still glad to have the day away from him. Some explaination is in order, I guess. I've spent the whole Christmas break with the kids. Alex in particular has been very clingy difficult to entertain. I went to bed Friday night knowing he was still awake, pretending to be asleep, and then running around the upstairs--I guess hoping I would notice and get up. I decided it just was not worth a fight, let him stay up, and went to sleep. Dave was watching TV and dozing downstairs.

The next morning, Alex got dressed and put on a ball cap before he let me see him... I asked him to take it off, and almost cried. Give me credit, I didn't yell at him... I almost took a picture so I could post it on the blog, but don't want to give him that much attention. Can you guess? He had cut his hair the night before. He has beautiful, think, curly hair. We keep it pretty short, so the curls are not as beautiful as they could be... He had three or four big bald patches on the front, top of his head. I was just sick. All I could think of was to buzz it all off. I took him outside and gave him the shortest haircut of his life, and the spots he had cut are still very obvious. I know, I know, all kids do this. But at eight?

I asked him why. He told me it was because I wasn't paying attention to him. I told him that I had gone to bed and I was asleep! He said he wanted me to yell at him to go to sleep. Ah, you just can't win sometimes. I'm sure I'll laugh about this some day. But I'm not quite there yet. I was SO angry, but I didn't want to reinforce the behavior by reacting in a big way to it. So I tried really hard to stay calm. Needless to say, when he announced that he was too sick to go to the wedding, rather than tell him he had to go, and point out that he only had a mild cold, I called our favorite babysiter and luckily caught her at home with no plans. We were gone all day--12 hours. We had never all been away from Alex for that long. He had a really fun day with the babysitter, but pouted big time when we got home and the next morning to let us know that he didn't like being left behind.

I told him over and over that if he needs one of us after we have gone to bed, he just needs to knock on the door and tell us. Or come in and wake us up. Having a non-verbal brother has not helped Alex develop his typical communication skills. Alex's issues are not spectrum issues, but he sometimes acts more autistic than Joseph! I hope the counselor we have started to see with Alex can help him develop some self-esteem and independence.

Ah, it is a great journey! Happy 2007 to everyone!

Congratulations to Dave

Dave has purchased a new business. The deal closed today. Here is the website http://www.classroomgoodies.com/. I guess I'll have to add it to the links on my blog! This business, which sells Science, Math, and Technology supplies to the K-12 market fits well with his existing computer supplies and accessories business that focuses on schools and educational institutions.

I am very proud of him. As many of you know, he has had lean years of late. I kept thinking (or I should say, he kept reassuring me) that eventually his business would take off--and this opportunity to merge with (or take over) a bigger, existing business--is even better. So, here's to you, dear. You were right! Your patience has payed off.

I believe Dave was given this opportunity because the man that started the business trusted Dave more than any other available buyer. The original owner has done busines with Dave, and known Dave for many years. He wanted to sell the business because he is looking to retire, and has other business ventures as well. Other buyers could put more money up front, but none were as enthusiastic about keeping the existing business intact and building on its sucessful history as Dave. This is one instance where Dave's honesty and personality have finally worked for him. He was burned in the political arena by being a straight-arrow guy, but now he has an opportunity because he is a nice guy. It is such a joy to see him so excited and happy. The man has more spring in his step than I've seen in many years. Okay, he is also pretty nervous!

We are going out to dinner (at Der Dutchman) to celebrate! (Any local readers are welcome to join us!)