coco bean’s blog

inspired by shoosh - must change blog-dress... NAH, Just thinking of the school year starting and perhaps having a better, more organized, more goal-oriented blog going on. And yes, I said "school year starting" - we pretty much start school in early to middle August, so 10 days! (it will be later since it will be after the fair at my parents' - but...)

And now we've got a lot of plotting and planning for me to get everything ready for the school year to start - both virtually & in reality! There's going to be a lot of listing & boring details listed this week, but not like there's many people other than me reading this to be bored by it!

Blog:

• archives
• tags
• privacy
• new name
• what makes for a good blog? anyone?

School:

• sort supplies (label maker?)
• move desk (with princess approval)
• mount white board daily list/paper checklist?
• OGT approved scientific calculator

Home:

• move shelf
• move chair/chest
• move table/plants
• shred
• donatables gathered
• plastic bags to recycle
• recipe/cookbook document
• laundry (1 2 3 4 5)
• dishes
• "fall cleaning"
1. clean fridge
2. sort clothes
3. wash windows
4. clean oven

And I'll keep working on it - the absolute end date for this will be August 25, which is our official start to school days again :) 

I forgot how miserable the smog alert days make me feel - 3rd day of smog alerts & 2nd morning of waking up feeling like someone's beaten me with a bat... My eye sockets just ache. Hopefully rain over the weekend will clear the air and leave us to our moderate and not horrible summer. (Since we've previously dealt with a full April of smog alerts, I'm not so horrified by some smog in mid-July!)

Today is bread baking & pizza crust making. I want pizza for dinner - so... And we need bread. Might check out a white or partial whole wheat recipe this week. My stand-by whole wheat bread has seemed a bit wet lately. Plus, sammich dinners are so easy and cool - but the man isn't so into the wheat bread!

well, off to mix flour & water and make the magic that is bread...

sigh - got a bit list to get through today - and a lot of "started" things need to start being wound up...

• recycling which will go out tomorrow since I forgot to take it with me today.
• library
• cupcakes
• frosting
• laundry
• move shelf
• paint nails
• hang phone
• clean fryer

Got a half birthday in the house today - last before we hit double digits... omg - sniffle.

But I know I'm not a "loser" - just perhaps time to stop (or slow down) and revisit my goals and what I'm doing to get there. Looking back over the last year, I've accomplished a lot and life is pretty okay. The princess has had relatively few meltdowns - and all can be traced to routine changes or diet issues... She's growing up pretty well. Man is relatively stable - and actually attached to his job. I don't know that he's liked a job situation so much in a very very long time. So much so that he's afraid of losing this job because he really REALLY likes it. Almost as much as he likes me ;)

And me - I've lost 25ish pounds, I'm way healthier, I've earned my first "sports" prize EVER (I think the last anything I got for sport was a ribbon for participation for a activity fair in second grade!). I've still got to figure out a bit more of "what I want to do when I grow up" and get a bit more control on some things in the household, but it's not too bad.

We're starting our science fair project now - so it can be done before BEFORE the night before the fair ;) Best laid plans and all that, but we should be able to get 'er done!

***

and since I've been multi-tasking, I'm now pondering aspergers & things. I honestly have no doubts about the girl being aspie. BUT, we've been doing a great job with helping her figure out how to "center" herself and avoid breakdowns, we've even been able to quiet down screaming fits this last week. Still, there are so many things that would just be easier in a small town or in a small community - to join in or have kids just around the corner. I don't want her "cured" of her personality... but I also don't want to make her sad later... my baby is going to be a grown-up - and while I think we're doing okay with preparing her for some parts of the grown-up world, are we making it? sigh. My little professor with her thundercloud moods...

Frequently, the Wii Fit will ask you questions - and then give you either unsatisfactory answers or no ability to answer... "Have you already had dinner?" UM, perhaps that's important to know whether your "workout" or your weight is affected by a recent meal... Then, if you so insult the Wii Fit as to GAIN some weight, and it asks you to guess why - it gives you options like "late night snacking" or "not enough exercise" or "junk food" - UM, how about "it's my freaking time of the month you rude bastard box!!!" But then I figured out that this is a SPECIAL feature of the wii balance board... If it's your time of the month and the Wii Fit is so crass as to mention your "weight" - pick up the box and slam it against the wall... the program recognizes "AH, it's your time of the month" and it starts playing soothing music and suggesting that you have some chocolate, in fact, all the chocolate in the house.

Yeah - I was about to have it out with my freaking fitness box yesterday, but I stepped back and took a breath. It did help me get up this morning to do my fitness center exercise this morning - since I wii'd yesterday because I slept in.

sigh - today is a "get things done" day - laundry has started and kichen cleaning is soon to follow proper caffeination!

I don't discuss the aspergers in the house. It is always around - somedays as large as an elephant, other days just lingering in the corners.

The family picnic was a concern for me - we had been more like an elephant of aspergers the last few weeks. But, things worked out okay - except that the man needed to find a hotel to escape the huge family in the house when extra people were around. And, I think my Mother understood - knowing it would just be too much chaos for the man, perhaps for the child. We let her choose staying or seeking refuge - she stayed (but we had her in bed before we left). Then, the conflict - SIL, soo very aware of nothing outside herself, decided "if our staying is going to make you leave, then we'll just head out tonight" - NO, that doesn't make anything better. SO, seeing that girl was about walking dead tired, we were able to talk her into heading home Saturday & everything was okay.

Some days it's just all about avoiding crowds and people. Unfortunately, the man can't stay home in his jammies all day and get a rest like the girl can. Some days it's about just going with the flow. Some days it's about smiling when you tell people about homeschooling & saying "yeah, other kids are just exhausting to the kid" - because they will imagine that she's just smarter than the other kids and not understand that it's simply having to deal with other people for hours and days that's exhausting. Ah well - it's not such a bad life dealing with these two people who have such different perspectives on life and the world... It's always interesting ;)

you aren't aware of what a moment you've captured with the camera until you see the picture BIGGER...

Some moments only come once - like a first taste of a gooseberry.

Tasting gooseberries

Then there's the baby who you just have to love - he's actually the grandchild of a cousin... How is it someone in "my generation" has grandchildren? Well, it's not like he's the oldest grandchild of any of my cousins (sadly).

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Fun fun fun. There were ages from about 2 months to 68 years at the picnic - well, Dad will be 68 on Friday.

spent several days at my folks' - and survived :) ALL three kids & all five grandkids were at the picnic - and it was good ;) Pix and more info to follow.

got tagged while I was away - and will play along with answering, but I'm not a tagger - I got like NO ONE to really tag left. I'm a lone blogger, sniffle...

Rules: You must answer the questions using only one word. Then tag four others.

1. Where is your cell phone? there
2. Your significant other? him
3. Your hair? yes
4. Your mother? crazy
5. Your father? silly
6. Your favorite thing? cooking
7. Your dream last night? nothing
8 Your favorite drink? coffee
9. Your dream/goal? thinness
10. The room you’re in? bed
11. Your hobby? cooking
12. Your fear? crowding
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? 2014
14. What you’re not? perky
15. Muffins? cupcakes!
16. One of your wish list items? peace
17. Where you grew up? home
18. The last thing you did? typed
19. What are you wearing? PJs
20. Favorite gadget? kitchenaid
21. Your pets? nonexistant
22. Your computer? laptop
23. Your mood? tuckered
24. Missing someone? Yep
25. Your car? his
26. Something you’re not wearing? thong
27. Favorite store? kitchen
28. Like someone? nevah
29. Your favorite color? coral
30. When is the last time you laughed? y'day
31. Last time you cried? sadness

Here's strawberry pie & some cool sunset light pix I had to take the other day...

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Best crust I've ever made. Read a neat tip for the strawberry pie to sprinkle the bottom crust with flour before filling to help keep it crisp. While I loves some soggy with goop bottom crust, the crisp bite of the bottom crust was AMAZING. Filling? meh... would NOT be making plain strawberry pie again...

By the end of the few minutes she posed, the kid was telling me to BACK OFF! SO, I moved on to more cooperative subjects...

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Almost every night, we get this glorious sunset light in the apartment... the other night it was just TOOOOO mango-good to resist.

I made a list - even added to it as I went through things. My desk is relatively organized (compared to this morning!) and there's only really one nasty thing I'm avoiding doing that maybe I'll have the strength to do tomorrow... you know, those calls that you can only make on the days when you feel like a real grown-up? sigh.

gotta make up some more plans for activities in July - we're going to my folks' tomorrow for a 4th of July picnic... The next weekend has a friend visiting. The last weekend of the month has a birthday party - so one free weekend left. AND, some weekday things need to be done.

By then it will be August and time to start working on school again... and wondering where the summer went.

As a goal, I think I want to start really REALLY using my camera for reals...