Happy birthday, Rick!

He has to work tonight, but we got him a brownie cheesecake to celebrate when he finally does get home.

Fifty-six years old... wow...!

UPDATE: Here's a picture of the birthday boy--

New Year's Resolutions, anyone?

Focus Your New Year's Resolutions on the Little Things That Make You Happier

9. Stop eating lunch at your desk (75% of Americans do), and eat with a friend

This one's hard for me because of the unique schedule I was given at school this year. There really isn't anyone else on lunch break at the same time as me. But I do have a couple of options, and I think this is very good advice for me. I am an introvert by nature and my least-common-denominator is solitude, but it's not always good for me psychologically because I tend to worry and fear if I don't keep in contact with other humans.

4. Sit down as a family for dinner (only 28% of Americans do)

This is one of the recommendations of the day treatment staff, so we've tried to be better at incorporating this into our routine. It's funny; the first day I insisted on it, Martha was full of insults about the idea, but after we'd done it just a couple of days, the day treatment staff told me privately that it was something she had mentioned as enjoying very much. Go figure.


Do y'all have any resolutions, or are you one of those who resolve never to have a resolution?

Day Treatment, day 5

When I went to pick her up this afternoon, I found out that she had earned a Level 1 for the evening... she had used foul language with the staff, among other infractions (!) (imagine that)... but amazingly, she was in a fairly jovial and compliant mood. This, on half her usual dose of anti-psychotic med, tells me that I was right -- that particular med didn't really seem to have much of an effect at all. We won't be starting the Risperdal for another several days, and we have to do the usual tapering-off procedure with the current stuff, but at least for today we had a decent day.

I like decent. I can tolerate decent. Even when she did a couple of inadvertent missteps (forgetting to put away her supper mess, not following directions with regards to her supper choices), she didn't argue or even question the loss of the two points. She just filled out the hourly report in a very matter-of-fact way and went on about her business of going to bed.

Yay.

(very quiet clapping, so as not to ripple the pond)

Day Treatment, day 4

We gave the day treatment staff a brief vacay last Thursday and Friday, but this morning we were up-n-at-em again. I got to air some of my grievances privately to the professional staff, mainly that behavior modification ALONE wasn't cutting anyone's mustard in this house, and that we needed some medication intervention ASAP. They need to see up-to-date labs on her, which we'll be drawing tomorrow morning early, and then they're going to gradually switch her to Risperdal from the currently ineffective Geodon (which works for some folks, just not for us).

And they worked with her pretty intensively today on owning up to the role she plays in the peacefulness (or absence of such) in our family. She came up with a list of three things she can do to contribute to a happy home atmosphere.

She was very tetchy and cantankerous on the way home, but I kept my cool and told her it was too bad she was choosing to be insulting and grouchy. She clammed up, but continued to harass and harangue, so she didn't earn a point. At home she was incensed that supper wasn't immediately ready, so I told her I could see that she was having some trouble holding it together and that she should go use her coping plan. She was REALLY pissed that I wouldn't let her eat something else instead (food issues are a real trigger, it seems), but she did go upstairs and wait.

At supper I dished out everyone's food and we sat down together. She was still agitated, but we were patient and quiet and continued to talk in calm tones. I asked her to bring me her folder with her point sheets, which she did begrudgingly, and as soon as I began filling out her point sheet she underwent an instant transformation into Cooperative Martha. She began bubbling over to tell me about her day at Day Treatment and the things they talked over and worked through.

One very encouraging thing that the lady at Day Treatment told me privately was that Martha was putting forth a gargantuan effort NOT to lose it during the day... and that children with seriously big mental illness issues CAN'T exert that much control for that amount of time. It doesn't mean she doesn't have significant issues, obviously, but it does mean that some of the more serious problems can be ruled out.

And we plug away.

We're waiting right now for the arrival of the Purple Fish Guts family, who are spending the night with us on their way to a family wedding event. I'm going to go into the kitchen now and start making some guacamole; I stopped at the Dallas Farmer's Market this afternoon and picked up the ingredients. YUMMY!

Dalek the halls!

This household is obviously harboring a Doctor Who fan...


h/t BlogDog, who sent this delightful X(terminate!)mas tree photo to me.

Jell-O-stone solution to lake trout problem?

Jell-O might eliminate lake trout in Yellowstone

Apparently they're trying to get rid of an introduced species of fish in Lake Yellowstone, and they've found that Jell-O might be a legitimate solution.




I have no idea why I'm posting this. I just thought it was really weird and that you might think it was weird, too. Can you imagine visiting Yellowstone (one of my very favorite vacations, I might add) and standing at the shore of the lake and jiggling it with your toe?

Day Treatment, days 2 and 3

We had some electrical issues here at home that prevented me from blogging days two and three, and we're giving the day-treatment staff a well-needed break until Monday, so here's how things are going so far.

Day 2 was sketchy, and the second evening at home was a complete disaster... but I stuck with the program and she lost enough points to sink to "Level 1" during day 3. Level 1 means they can't do extra-fun stuff like use electronics or television, they can only read books or play board games or card games for fun.

I spent a long time talking with one of the social workers there, and she recommended that I institute the point system among the other two kids at home as well. I thought this was a capital idea, so that's what we've started doing as of this morning.

On the point sheet, each kid has three goals, and they get points for meeting the goals during each divided-out time period of the day. It's a TON of work for me, certainly, but the kids have shown enthusiasm for meeting their goals. When they start to get upset or out of control, they have to do a "sit-out" in which they use a "coping plan"... they think of happy things, or just use the time to calm down... and afterwards they make amends if necessary (apologize, etc.) and move on to the next thing.

Basically we're trying to train her to respond constructively to her anger instead of lashing out. We have done forms of this throughout her life, actually, so it's working pretty well so far because she's had practice. While this is helpful, it doesn't really solve the problem -- but that will come when they start working on changing her meds.

One thing it IS forcing me to do is to be a bit more organized and forward-thinking, and that's a good thing. I need that, desperately. I'm spending more time considering mealtimes and together times, and making a plan. I've never been a planner by nature.

Providentially, our dining room table that we bought back last summer finally arrived on Tuesday night and is in the dining room. It is the perfect excuse for having a full sit-down meal together. It's a large square table that seats eight, it's counter-height with two tall chairs on each of its four equal sides, and it's dark wood and very minimalist in design. There's a big lazy-susan in the middle as well, which is a terrific feature. I am very happy with my choice... it seems to work perfectly for us, and it dovetails right into our new routine.

We've had some extremely constructive family talks together around the new table already. It seems to be a great place to talk through things that happen and plan through things that haven't yet happened.

We've kept the old table and it's pushed up against the wall. I may use it for art projects or other messy things, since it's pretty messy already. This house may be a big drafty barn of a place, but it does have SPACE. Yay, space!

I like space.

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!

Day Treatment, day 1

I checked Martha in at the day-treatment center in Dallas this morning, signed all the paperwork and went through all the procedures, etcetera etcetera. Basically it's structured like a big, ginormous TIME OUT where they're lifted from their normal routine and given a new routine with a specific structure that must be adhered to. They receive points for completing required tasks, which determines what "level" they get to be on, which determines what privileges they get to enjoy. All this as the herd of psychiatrists observe her in action, counsel with her, listen to me and my concerns and give me a framework in which to live with her, change her meds accordingly, and whatever else.

I finished with all the initial paperwork by about noon and had three hours to kill. I went someplace quiet and read a book (Duma Key by Stephen King, if you must know). It was so cold I just couldn't bear to try to run around and shop.

I know, my dear friends from Iowa and Minnesota... it's practically shorts weather in Texas compared to what y'all are suffering through... but I think that the seventy pounds I've lost since July were what my body was using for insulation because I am now a walking popsicle. If I'm not wearing longhandle underwear under my clothes, I'm chattering like a set of wind-up teeth. When I'm home, it's worse, because we don't have central heat. I have to wear longhandles under my pajamas and I sleep under about six heavy layers of quilts and afghans, and if I stick my head out from under the covers, I can see my breath.

You think I kid. I do not.

The Purple Fish Guts family is planning a visit to our home in a week. RedFish says they're bringing their sleeping bags... I hope they're equipped with Thinsulate or Polartec or something...

Carnival of the Recipes

It's over at A Boy Named Sous this week and it's like a party over there, so put on your most festive apron and get going!

Ratatouille - the recipe

Here's a super-cool blog that's all about the food that you see in movies:

Movie Food

And they even have the recipe for the exact dish that Remy served to Anton Ego in the Pixar movie Ratatouille:

Ratatouille - Confit Byaldi

It sounds really, really tasty. I may have to try this.

Go ye, therefore, and read it

Noel over at Cold Fury posted something worth reading yesterday:

Party of One

Really?

Misery

Ever coughed so hard you thought your head would asplode?

[throbthrobthrob]

Meds don't seem to be working very well. I can't imagine I'm going to sleep well tonight.

UPDATE: Woke up about every two hours to take more dextromethorphan (which, I think, I'm technically not supposed to do if I'm also taking Prozac or another SSRI, but I'm desperate here). I'm gonna skip church; can't sing in the choir if I'm coughing myself inside-out.

생일축하합니다 (that's Happy Birthday in Korean)

Happy Birthday Alice
13 years old today


Alice at school with some of her friends in the
Elementary Life Skills Special-Ed classroom

She's dead, Jim

Majel Barrett Roddenberry dies

Nurse Chapel in the Star Trek: Original Series, Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Majel Barrett Roddenberry was an incredibly memorable character on her husband's show. I was grieved today to hear of her passing.

I actually MET her once, back in 1992... yes, I actually went to a Trek Convention once. That was in my Pre-Parenthood years, of course, although if another big Trek convention were to be held nearby, I'd probably still go. At any rate, she and Marina Sirtis (who portrayed her daughter Deanna Troi on ST:TNG) were there signing autographs. They were both lovely and gracious ladies with just as much elegance in person as on the show.

I still love Star Trek in all its iterations. Perhaps it's because I was born in 1966, the year that it first emerged onto the scene, and perhaps because I grew up watching the re-runs with my dad.

Rest in peace, Majel. Make it so.

Art project

My students have been working on Huichol-style yarn paintings. Oftentimes I will sit alongside them and work on the same thing they're doing. I decided to do a stylized poinsettia pattern. It's about 18" x 18" or thereabouts.

My little heartbreaker

This is the Face Of Psoriasis. And the neck and shoulders and trunk and belly and arms, but I ain't showin' you all those.

We got a new medicine that's supposed to clear up the stuff on his face. The other medicine was not to be used on his face, but that was before his face broke out in the lovely plaques. He went to the dermatologist yesterday and she said that there were two kinds of medicine he could use on his face... one was a generic, the other was an incredibly expensive stuff. We opted for the generic. She gave us teeny samples of the whoop-de-doo stuff if we need it. I thought that was very decent of her. Let us hope the generic stuff works.

He still insists no-one at school has even asked him about his spots, much less teased him about them. This is something I am grateful for. He's using Cetaphil in the shower now as his soap, and Selsun Blue with Salicylic Acid for his hair (several reputable web sites recommend a shampoo with salicylic acid to aid in the sloughing of the skin that so stubbornly refuses to leave and forms weird plaques instead).

He's been a tremendously good sport about it.

AhCHOO... coff coff coff... [thbpbpbpbpbptt]

I hate having a cold. And this one's a particularly, er, wet and juicy one. Runny eyes, runny nose, cough, the whole package. Everyone in the house but Rick has it, and I'm sure he's on the list.

Be back when I can go for more than thirty seconds without blowing my nose.

We ain't in Iowa anymore

On the way home from piano lessons tonight, there was just this microscopic film of ice on the freeway. We all drove 20mph or less in hopes of not having to file on our auto insurance... I was particularly careful, since just TODAY we cancelled the collision portion of my insurance on my van.

In northern Denton County, out in the middle of nowhere on I-35, traffic suddenly came to a complete stop. Not a crawl or a slowdown. A full-on stop. For a good long time, even. I was hoping we'd actually make it HOME. Once traffic finally moved along again, I never did see an accident or anything, so my assumption is that the trucks were unable to negotiate the long hill just south of Sanger and that it just took them that long to finally make it.

I dunno.

It was Iowa cold, and I was thankful that I still keep a bad-weather kit in the back of the van (a little something I learned in the blizzards of the high northern plains). Unlike Iowa, though, the people here get rather freaked out and skitter all about. They're seriously talking school cancellation tomorrow, even... which in the case of these folks is probably the safest alternative. No-one here is equipped to deal with slick streets; we just wait 'til it melts later in the afternoon or sublimates in the wind. No need for salt/sand trucks or snowplows (PTL!).

Doesn't mean it's not fargin' COLD in this drafty old house, though.

Rick just came downstairs and informed me that we have a leak in the vicinity of the washer. Could be a chunk of ice in the hose, though, who knows? It'd be nice if we didn't have to dismantle the ceiling/floor right now...

I think I'm going to go stand by the gas heater for a few minutes and then dash off to bed before my nightgown gets cold. Thank you, Lord, for gas heaters. They are a beautiful thing, indeed.

Take a deep breath

Sam takes the Heisman!!!

OU's Sam Bradford takes Heisman Trophy

Murderer Chic

Reason.com's Nick Gillespie nails it:

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

I took a recipe for banana bread and tweaked it a little with some peanut butter. It's pretty yummy, according to Isaac:

4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1.5 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350. With a large fork, mix the butter into the mashed bananas. Use the same fork to mix in the peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in with the fork. Add the flour last, then mix with the fork. Pour the mixture into a buttered 4x8 loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour, then cool on a rack. Remove from pan and slice to serve.

We used creamy peanut butter because that's what we had, but I'm sure it would be yummy with the crunchy variety as well. I inadvertently forgot the sugar in this batch, so it's not quite as sweet as it probably should've been, but it's still quite tasty nonetheless and probably healthier without the extra sugar.

When I do it again, I'm going to put one more egg in it, to see if that helps it hold together just a tad bit better. And I may use brown sugar or honey instead of white sugar.

Definitely a keeper recipe. It's receiving rave reviews even as I'm typing this post.

Oh, and yes -- the appliance pictured above that I'm using to bake the peanut butter banana bread is a halogen free-standing oven. It's not big enough to bake a 13x9x2 pan of something, but it will do a 12x12 or smaller. The built-in oven here is unusable and not working. It's a double oven, but it's only about 24" wide -- which seems to be unheard-of these days. I don't know how or when or even IF we'll ever be able to replace it and have a REAL oven, but for now this little countertop one will have to do.

This is the first time I've tried doing honest-to-goodness baking in it and it worked beautifully. I wish it was big enough for an oblong cake pan but it's better than having no oven at all.

Tasty, rich stew

I bought a small whole smoked turkey through my school's FFA program. Yesterday I sliced it all up and put the meat in the fridge to be consumed, then took the rest of the carcass and put it into the crockpot along with a large bottle of cabernet sauvignon.

That was it, just chicken carcass and cabernet. I let it simmer on Low for about twelve hours or so, then strained out all the bits and pieces and put the stock back into the crockpot. I chopped up a couple of cups of the smoked turkey meat that I had previously cut off the carcass and added it back in, along with a can of coconut milk, a couple of cans of water, and two crushed-up packages of Ramen noodles (with the seasoning packets). I put that back on High and then served it up when the noodles got soft.

YUM! It's extremely rich, but quite tasty.

It's official

Martha's going to be checked in at a day-treatment facility affiliated with Children's Hospital in Dallas, starting on the first day of Christmas break. Since we will have to take her in every morning and be available for meetings and then pick her up and be available for meetings then too, they were gracious to schedule it so that I don't have to take time off from work. At least, not on the front end. If she's not completed the treatment by the end of break, I will have to take the time off then.

I met with her teachers and other school special-ed providers today for her annual ARD (Admission, Review or Dismissal) meeting. I requested that they administer a psych test to determine an eligibility for an "ED" label (meaning Emotionally Disturbed or something like that). She scores okay (not fabulously, just okay, but she's not mentally retarded) on IQ tests and on her Texas annual assessments, but her behavior is atrocious and she refuses to complete enough work to pass her classes. Her teachers' descriptions of her in-class behaviors is exactly the same as what we see at home.

When we have spoken to Martha about this day-treatment plan, she stiffens and declares she isn't going to do anything those stupid people tell her to do.

Pray that that's exactly what she does! They need to see just exactly what they're dealing with, and the sooner they get an accurate picture, the sooner we can adjust her meds appropriately and check back OUT of the center.

Yet another thing to live with around this zoo

As if we didn't have enough to worry about around here, apparently Isaac has psoriasis.

Yeah, you know, the heartbreak?

According to MayoClinic dot com:

Psoriasis is a common skin disease that affects the life cycle of skin cells. Normally, new cells take about a month to move from the lowest skin layer where they're produced, to the outermost layer where they die and flake off. With psoriasis, the entire life cycle takes only days. As a result, cells build up rapidly, forming thick silvery scales and itchy, dry, red patches that are sometimes painful.

Psoriasis is a persistent, long-lasting (chronic) disease. You may have periods when your psoriasis symptoms improve or go into remission alternating with times your psoriasis becomes worse.

For some people, psoriasis is just a nuisance. For others, it's disabling, especially when associated with arthritis. No cure exists, but psoriasis treatments may offer significant relief. And self-care measures, such as using a nonprescription cortisone cream and exposing your skin to small amounts of ultraviolet light, can improve your psoriasis symptoms.

He first exhibited symptoms right around the first of the school year. We thought it was poison ivy contracted at church camp and treated him with some calamine and anti-itch cream. It didn't go away, so then we thought it was scabies and treated him with lindane. It didn't help, either. We finally broke down at that point and went to a dermatologist, who diagnosed psoriasis and gave him some serious strong steroid cream which eliminated the thick, scaly rash on his arms.

Now it's popping up on his face and neck. He isn't supposed to use the super-strong steroid cream on his face. I smeared some OTC cortisone cream on his head and sent him to bed.

[sigh]

It never ends.

Yeah, I've done my reading. I always do my research whenever someone around here is diagnosed with something new. It's probably exacerbated by stress and the fact that it's winter and it's cold and dry. So, what, we give him Prozac and an electric blanket and we're good to go?

I am thankful for one thing -- he doesn't seem to be bothered in the least by the appearance of the psoriatic lesions on his face. That's one kind of stress he doesn't need.

Gawdamighty

How in HAYull does a person emerge from a shower and PUT BACK ON THE VILE SOCKS SHE WAS WEARING ALL DAY THAT SMELL SO BAD THEY MAKE ME WANT TO VOMIT TEN FEET AWAY?

How can she not smell that?!?!?!?

And does that mean she also put back on the same underwear?

I am going to have to endure my creaky knees going up the staircase now, just to make her change her underwear.

Why am I having to tell a fourteen-year-old girl to PUT ON CLEAN CLOTHES AFTER HER SHOWER?

I did NOT sign up for this. I didn't. I remember specifically all the stuff I agreed to when I became a mom, and this wasn't on the list. I would've remembered this, I'm certain. I am going to lodge an official complaint somewhere, just as soon as I figure out who's in charge of that department.

This picture's just crying out for a punster's magic

Lebanese farmer grows super-sized spud

A farmer from Lebanon couldn't believe his eyes when he discovered he had grown a prize-winning potato on his land, he told AFP on Saturday, saying he was hoping to enter the Guinness World Records.

"This giant weighs 11.3 kilos (24.9 pounds)," Khalil Semhat said at his farm in the Tyre area, 85 kilometres (50 miles) south of Beirut.

"I've been working the land since I was a boy, and it's the first time I've seen anything like it."

Semhat, 56, said he had not done anything special to cultivate such a super-sized spud. "I didn't use any chemicals at all," he insisted, adding that he had to ask a friend to help him haul the huge tuber out of the ground.

C'mon, y'all. [taptaptaptap] Is this thing on?

Stopped clocks

What's that they say about a stopped clock?

Haitian Voodoo Protest Denounces Foreign Aid, UN Peacekeepers

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Voodoo priests say foreign aid and the presence of 9,000 U.N. peacekeepers in Haiti are holding back the chronically impoverished country.

Voodoo supreme chief Max Beauvoir says Haitians cannot live comfortably among heavily armed U.N. troops and that aid groups accomplish little while preventing locals from helping themselves.

Hell recognizes truth occasionally, too, I suppose. What they won't mention is that it's voodoo that cursed Haiti from its inception and precipitated the conditions that brought the do-gooders and the UN peacekeepers in the first place.

When I saw that photo up there, I could immediately smell the burning garbage odor that permeates the city of Port-au-Prince. That smell is what hits you square in the face when you get off the plane.

Even so, I will always always always love that country and its beautiful people. And I would go back tomorrow if I could.

BOOMER SOONER!

Oklahoma 62 Mizzou 21

Any more questions? 'Cuz if I have to hear Brent Mustardburger boo-hooing about the Longhorns one more time I'm going to reach through the tee-vee and stick a pacifier in his poor widdle mouth.

BIG 12 CHAMPIONS

Another meme

Like you aren't already sick of them, but I got this one from a pal on Facebook and thought I'd pass it along anyway.

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG TITLE DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!


1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
Sing -- The Carpenters

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Soft Place to Fall -- Deborah Coleman

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Smells Like Teen Spirit -- Nirvana

4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
The Uncloudy Day -- Brad Paisley

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
This Is My Now -- Jordin Sparks

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Sisters of Avalon -- Cyndi Lauper & Ani DiFranco

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
I Am The Law -- Anthrax

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Ordinary World -- Duran Duran

9) WHAT IS 2+2?
Three Nocturnes, #3 In B, Op. 9 -- Chopin
((i never was much for math, now, was i?))

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
I Drove All Night -- Cyndi Lauper

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Color/Dance -- George Winston

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Sonata in G minor for transverse flute -- Pietro Antonio Locatelli

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Wrong Man For Me -- Debbie Davies

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Chubb Sub -- Medeski, Martin & Wood

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Boom -- P.O.D.

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Deck The Halls -- Relient K
((i did actually get married at christmastime! lol))

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Let The Good Times Roll -- Brad Paisley

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
When You Love -- Rich Mullins

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Inevitable -- Shakira

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Part Of Your World -- Jodi Benson

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Rhapsody In Blue -- Gershwin

A little Old Testament humor

EWWWW!!

Nebraska's "Butt Bandit" suspect faces charges

Cherry County Attorney Eric Scott said that on Tuesday he filed nine counts of public indecency and one count of disturbing the peace against 35-year-old Tom Larvie of Valentine, Nebraska. All are misdemeanors.

Larvie is suspected of leaving greasy, graphic imprints of his naked behind, and sometimes his groin, on the windows of stores, churches and schools in Valentine since the spring of 2007.

The marks were made with lotion or petroleum jelly.

Larvae tend to be smallish and worm-like, right? Maybe the guy's just a walking self-fulfilling prophecy.

Why?!?

Can someone PLEASE 'splain to me why the core temperature of my FEET fluctuates not with the temperature of the air around me but with the temperature outside? OMG my feet are soooooo cold right now.

I have two pairs of fuzzy socks and a pair of thick crocheted house-slippers on my feet. I don't think my feet could be any colder if I plunged them into an ice bath.

I could see if taking a hot-hot shower might help. Mom says when she gets unbearably cold like this, she sits in a hot bath for a while to warm up.

But then I'd have to emerge from the shower.

[shiver]

No More Lupron Shots

One of the unfortunate side effects of what in all likelihood is Shaken Baby Syndrome for Alice is that the damage to her developing brain also affected her pituitary gland. This, in turn, caused her pituitary gland to become active well before its appointed time, causing her to enter puberty during her toddler and preschooler years.

Were we to allow this to continue, Alice's full adult height would have remained at wherever she was when her period began... and if that was when she was four years old, well, then, that's how tall she'd stay for the rest of her life.

So to induce "arrested development," we had to give her body an ongoing STOP sign. Starting at every 28 days and eventually having to move it to every 25 days, we had to administer an injection of Lupron® (leuprolide acetate, 11.25mg).

Did you know that one single Lupron injection costs well over a thousand dollars?

We've been able to manage the co-pays all these years, but this year we had to change plans because of financial hardship, and it made our co-pay for this injection jump exponentially.

I was relieved, then, when on Tuesday I took Alice to her regular visit with the pediatric endocrinologist and Dr. Tannin said it was time to stop the Lupron shots.

I'm not looking forward to the obvious and inescapable consequences of this cessation. She may be nearly thirteen chronologically, but she's nowhere near that mentally. And may never be. But we're not the first parents of a mentally-disabled daughter to have to face the physical maturation of a permanently-immature person.

What we're going to do is --eventually-- begin her on oral contraceptives. This should at least help us know precisely when to expect the monthly cycle AND help her cycle to be light.

I am certainly glad about never having to jab a needle into her thin little thigh every twenty-five days. That was a HUGE bummer and no-one else would do it, not even my dad.

Advice for today

Christmas Questionnaire

I got this from my kid sis. Here's my answers:

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
wrapping paper

2. Real tree or Artificial?
artificial

3. When do you put up the tree?
when we get around to it. usually sometime around the first week of December.

4. When do you take the tree down?
we feel like we're doing well if we get it down before we go back to school in January.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Not really. Rick loves it, but it just doesn't appeal to me much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hmmmm... I got a lot of cool stuff, really. It's hard to pin down just one thing. Perhaps my Pong game back in 1977? That was pretty darn cool. I wish I still had it.

7. Hardest person to buy for?
My mom. We all agreed last year to stop buying for the adults, thank goodness, so I don't have to worry about it any more. It was always sheer agony to try to come up with something because my mom is the EXPERT at gift-giving and it doesn't come naturally to me at all.

8. Easiest person to buy for?
Rick. He's the ultimate in practical, and he's totally unsentimental... he doesn't require the element of surprise. Which means it's hard for him to buy for ME. I have had to give up on the notion of him surprising me with something, because that's just not how he operates.

9. Do you have a nativity scene?
Sure. Several, actually. I try to limit them to unusual ones, though. My favorite is my Haitian nativity scene with the coconut creche.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail. E-mail is cheating, on Christmas cards anyway.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Probably some practical something-or-other from Rick... once I finally figured out that he needs everything spelled out directly, we didn't have any more gift disasters.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Elf

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Thanksgiving holiday

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Sure. Not often, but once in a while.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Aunt Bill's Brown Candy

16. Lights on the tree?
Duh! It wouldn't be a Christmas tree without LIGHTS. And I prefer multicolored ones, personally.

17. Favorite Christmas song?
Greensleeves

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I prefer to stay at home. We almost always travel to my parents' house, but it isn't far away so I don't really consider that traveling.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Pshyeah. Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen. And Rudolph. Can't you recite the poem or sing the song?

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Either. Usually an angel on ours, but I don't have a problem with a star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
Christmas Eve. We open everyone's presents that night, and then when we get up early on Christmas morning, we find out what Santa brought us. And then we have birthday cake for my Dad, whose birthday is December 25.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
Cold. I hate being cold. Especially my feet. There's a lot less of me to go around than there's been in a while, which means I'm even colder than before. I wear at least two pairs of socks at all times. And longhandles under my clothes. And this is in TEXAS. In Iowa... well, I don't even want to think about that. [shudder]

23. Favorite ornament theme or color?
Ornament theme... I like ornaments made by my kids. Color? Well, my favorite color is green, which works quite well at Christmas.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Prime rib! GO MEAT!

25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
A Nikon D300 with an 18-200mm Nikkor zoom lens. I won't get it, but it's what I want.

What are YOUR answers?

L'anniversaire... aniversario... die Jahrestag... 記念日

Eighteen years ago today, I got hitched.

He's a pretty good guy. We've had our ups and downs, but I think most do. The last few years have probably been the hardest; I understand really really really really well why families with special-needs children have a much higher divorce rate than average. It's just hard, in so many ways.

But I do love him, and he loves me. He puts up with my chaotic quirks and I put up with his logical matter-of-factness.

It's a good thing.