Really??? Lighten Up, People!

Excuse me while I get a superiority complex for believing that if I can keep a sense of humor after all my family has been through and goes through on a daily basis, then just about anyone should be able to do so as well. Of course, keeping a sense of humor would require that a person have one in the first place.

I won't go into the long, boring details that fueled this latest little rant but suffice it to say that I think people who cannot distinguish humor online either need to stay off the computer or at least ask questions before they get all offended.

Here is the short list of things my family has dealt with over the last several months:

*First, and foremost, having to deal with autism on a daily basis, which is more than any human should be expected to do. And then on top of it, multiply it by two children. No, Milla is not diagnosed.....yet. That will surely follow towards the latter part of this month. (Yeah, we hit the jackpot on that one!)
My reaction? With all the therapies our children require, we are helping to keep people employed. Go autism! We are helping the economy!

*A bathroom remodel that lasted three months, ending with my firing of our contractor, and an incomplete project. Okay, maybe I didn't keep people employed on this one but we did keep him and his crew employed much longer than anyone should have to be employed for a simple bathroom remodel that should have taken two weeks, at most.
My reaction? At least they were out before Thanksgiving!

*Beginning of full-time ABA therapy, resulting in people being in our house five days per week for the majority of our waking hours.
My reaction? Finally, I have a motivating factor for keeping the house in order. It doesn't mean I do though. Hey, I only said I have a motivating factor, not that it actually motivates me.

*A flooded basement due to a busted water heater.
My reaction? Free water heater!!!! The old (relatively speaking, that is, because the old one was only three years old) one was still under warranty.

*Two seizures, one requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital.
My reaction? It was a good thing we didn't get things worked out with the school for Reiss to attend kindergarten. The day the most recent seizure happened would have been his first day of school. How's that for initiating a new teacher into the world of autism and its comorbidities?

*Numerous bouts of vomiting, diarrhea, and bloody noses.
My reaction? Between Reiss and Milla, they were happening fairly close together so I was able to wash the soiled clothes together.

*Endless doctors appointments, lab tests, supplements, medical bills, and newly occurring autism-related ailments appearing just as soon as we clear up a separate ailment.
My reaction? Our incredibly high insurance deductible gets met very early in the year. BONUS! One less thing to worry about during the year.

*Several instances of discrimination towards our child or our family because of our child's autism.
My reaction? We are spared the wonder of how much we need to tell people in regards to our child's autism. They let us know upfront that they are ignorant!

*And today: a flooded basement AGAIN. This time due to a leak where the water comes into the house.
My reaction? Yaaaayyy!!! We get to tear out those hideous bushes in front of the house! Better yet, someone is tearing out the bushes for us. Bonus again! Those backhoe operators tomorrow are not going to give a diddley about those bushes!

Again, that is the short list. It also does not include the stresses of events happening outside our family that directly affect our family.

My point? Is it really that difficult to keep a sense of humor? I figure if I can still laugh when most days I feel like crying and if I can keep a sense of humor while having no access to running water for two days, no shower, and getting the privilege of paying thousands of dollars for having BO, then surely other people should be able to take a joke.

Or, at the very least, laugh now and ask questions later.

Masters of Disasters

Last Wednesday Reiss' class made gingerbread men. Because our family eats gluten and casein free, Reiss obviously cannot have the traditional gingerbread cookie dough, so I made a really great GFCF version of it and sent some of it to school with him. What was left of it was dealt with on Saturday evening.

A little bit of tapioca flour for dusting down the table and making sure the dough didn't stick when rolling.....

Reiss eating a bunch of icing. YUM! And we have one shirt off....

If it looks like fun, I can tell you it really was a good time. I don't think I remember the last time Reiss and Milla stayed occupied for so long with one activity. It was nice to be able to just sit and relax without having to entertain them or worry what they were getting into...who cares that they made a ginormous mess. They had fun and the mess was cleaned up in about ten minutes - a nice trade-off for about twenty minutes of breathing time for me.

And no, you are not imagining things. Yes, they were eating the gingerbread cookie dough raw and although I am not one to worry about salmonella in raw cookie dough, I definitely didn't need to worry about it with this dough because the recipe is free of gluten, casein, and is egg-free as well. You can find the recipe HERE. It is Lisa Lewis' recipe for Gingerbread People from her book, Special Diets for Special Kids.


Moving on to other messes....

Our new two-person, open-concept shower.....

The extra-wide, extra-deep spa tub and glass block window....

The granite countertop we had made for a miraculously inexpensive price by purchasing a remnant.

And finally, what happens when someone (not me!) adds "a little bit" of shower gel to a spa tub with the jets turned on......

I am still left wondering how much constitutes "a little bit."

Mmmmm.....What IS That Smell?

Yesterday began the official first day of our bathroom remodel. It was supposed to happen a few weeks ago (and would probably be done by now!) but lo and behold, our contractor's mother passed away and he was put behind schedule. Although I can be a very compassionate person, words fail me when I try to convey such a trait. So if I sound callous, I'm not. I just don't know how to word things to say what I mean. Our contractor's mother died. He got behind schedule. Those are the facts and I feel for his pain.....I just don't know how to word it to give that perception.

So anyway, yesterday, he and his workers began demolition of our bathroom. They came back today and did more of the "dirty" demolition work, as in, ripping out the shower and the toilet. The reason we are doing the bathroom remodel in the first place is because the shower was leaking into the finished part of our basement. Typically, that's not a reason to replace an entire bathroom but you haven't seen my bathroom.

We have known for awhile that we want to remodel the bathroom but we are not exactly instant gratification kind of people. More often, we do things as we have extra funds to do them and make the best of things while waiting. Our bathroom was one of those things that we had on the radar for maybe next year or the year after. Our bathroom had other plans. So rather than have workers come in and only fix the existing problem, we would prefer to have them do everything all at one time - you know, so we have our bathroom out of commission only one time instead of two times (once now and once again on down the road when we were really ready to do all of it).

Our guys arrived just as I was leaving to go get Reiss from preschool. I spoke briefly with them and then headed out with Milla to go get Reiss. We picked him up in pouring rain. That's the trade-off I get for not allowing Reiss to ride the bus: sometimes I have to get soaked in the rain or snowed on or whatever. Inclement weather is not my friend but for now, I'll take it over Reiss riding the bus. Call me over-protective but he is my first and he's only four years old and I've seen the way some of the bus drivers drive around here. After getting Reiss, we then took James lunch and hung out for awhile. James is his own boss so his boss doesn't mind too much when the office becomes a zoo/daycare on Friday afternoons.

When we arrived home again, the men were carrying bucket after bucket full of demolished bathroom walls, shower tiles, and flooring. The smell of raw sewage smacked me in the face like a dump truck. Now occasionally I have been in that bathroom and smelled a horrible smell and when I told our contractor about this on a previous occasion (when he was here doing another project), he explained the "trap" system in bathroom drains and all that and how gases (is that spelled correctly?) get built up and blah, blah, blah. Don't expect me to explain because I just went with what he was saying. Anyway, I knew there had to be more to it than that and when we began seeing the water stains on the ceiling downstairs, that was proof there really was a problem and that the smell wasn't just gas build up in the pipes.

I walked back to the bathroom and while doing so, the smell got stronger and stronger until I was on the verge of vomiting. And for good reason. One look at the demolished bathroom was all it took for me to find that it was not just raw sewage gas I was smelling all along. There was mold buildup from here to Utah in that darn shower! We knew it had been leaking but nothing could prepare me for this mess......there was mold all over the place. Horrible! Horrible! Horrible!

Even now, as I sit here with most of the demolition mess cleaned up, the crew gone, and that back bedroom closed up, our house still smells like the refreshing smell of poop raw sewage. The ceiling fans are on. Candles are lit. Thank goodness, it's getting to be Fall and cool outside, right? Oh, it's just disgusting but with the candles lit, pretty soon it will smell like blueberry muffins and raw sewage. So I guess I'm okay.

Now, the real decision....do I dare have all the moms and their kids over next Thursday for the coffee chat and playgroup I've been planning for weeks now? Or cancel? I had planned on coffee and donuts. Maybe I could still have it and just avoid buying any chocolate eclairs......

A New Look

Yes! Finally!!!

I have finally revamped the look of this blog. Honestly, I don't know what took me so long. Probably just my ignorant belief in doing so would require a lot of "know how" that I do not possess. However, it was so incredibly simple, and because of that, I'd like to thank The Cutest Blog On The Block for offering adorable FREE backgrounds and making things so easy for the dummies out there by providing detailed step-by-step instructions that even I could not mess up.

If I do say so myself, the monkeys are quite fitting for a blog about my two little nutballs.

Happy Easter!!!

Hope you have a blessed day!

Take a look at my new "Easter basket!"

Okay, so it's not really a basket but it does hold lots of tasty treats and goodies. This photo was taken just before noon and there was plenty of light, so I am not sure why it is so dark. Milla was in the highchair fussing and I didn't feel like messing around for five minutes to get the perfect shot so here you have it - our new refrigerator!

This stainless steel option is called "ultra-satin" and its main feature is fingerprints go virtually un-noticed on its surface. Notice how there is only one magnet on the front right now? Hopefully, it will stay that way. Our old refrigerator had so much clutter on its doors, it depressed me just to look at it.

Although I love this new refrigerator with its sleek stainless steel appearance, incredibly roomy interior, and - best of all - the "lockout" feature, which comes in quite handy with two very curious toddlers, I'll be totally honest and admit that I really didn't want to spend the money right now, after just having a bunch of remodelling done to our house. Unfortunately though, our old refrigerator kept leaking water out the bottom and with our new laminate floors, it was just too high of a risk to keep the old dinosaur and chance having the floors buckle under it.

The old refrigerator was at least twenty years old - if not older - and was inefficient energy-wise so bothering with a repair didn't make sense. Besides, we had a friend who does a lot of work with his church haul off the old refrigerator and I'm sure he will find a home for it with people whose options are most likely limited to having our old dino fridge or nothing. So, in effect, we really did recycle our refrigerator.

Toddlers, Taxis, and Tables...Oh My!

Oh, the places we will go....the messes we will make! Notice how Milla is leaving the scene of the crime?

Modern-day Bonnie & Clyde: Guilty, as charged for "allegedly" turning the playroom into an official federal disaster zone.

Reiss might put "Mommy's Taxi Service" out of commission. Oh darn!

Our new kitchen table that I promised to post photos of days ago. There are actually two other chairs but Reiss likes to slide them around on the new floors.

My new best friend! It's a battery-operated Shark. LOVE this thing for crumbs and dirt specks. It's so much easier to whip this out rather than dragging out the electric "Flip-It" wet/dry monstrosity of a thing or trying to get everything with a regular old-fashioned broom and dustpan. I use my Shark two or three times per day. Granted, I still have to do a damp cleaning now and then but the Shark is great after mealtimes, snacktimes, and toy clean-up.

By the way, remember last week's "mess?" If not, you can view it and read about it HERE. We have had two more of those "messes" just this week - not as bad as last week's mess, but "messes" nonetheless. And they always come at the least ideal times too...

The "After"math of Our Remodel

Just a quick post to show some "After" photos of our recent remodel....You can check out the "Before" photos HERE. All photos were taken at night and do not do justice at all to how much our world has brightened and lightened up just by this small remodel. As you can see, this was before we moved everthing back in the rooms. The extra paint cans hadn't even been taken out to the garage yet when the photos were taken. The above photo was taken in the kitchen looking out to the entryway, living room (that we use like a family room) and dining room (that we use as a playroom).
The playroom - taken from the living room.

From the living room, looking toward the entryway - on the right - and the playroom - on the left - into the kitchen. The doorway on the left, going into the kitchen was where one entire wall that was on a diagonal and part of another wall were removed. That alone opened up the rooms so much and brought us from 1974 into the new (almost-decade-old) millenium.

The entryway with our new chandelier. I LOVE, love, love this chandelier! It has nine lights on it - quite a change from the useless 3-bulb brass and smoky glass piece of C-R-A-P that was in there previously.