annie blog

Hey y’all, I hope that everyone is having a happy Friday.  I am.

The sun came out.

I found my hustle.

There is wine in my house.

Nachos for dinner.

It’s all good.

Anyway, here is my 2nd in my Autism reposts that I’m doing for Autism Awareness month.

How well I remember this day.  It was snowing, James was home from school because of a problem with his meds.  After this, in fact, we took him off meds and he adjusted fine.  It was just that day….all bets were off.  That employee, Talon, what a nice guy.  I wish that I had a picture of him in his sleeveless t-shirt, with his muscles and his mohawk and his million dollar smile.  It was a magic moment.  Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this repost.

Originally posted on January 22, 2008.

A Trip to Sam’s…

can be so very interesting. On Friday, I took my oldest and youngest sons with me on several errands. The last stop on our list was Sam’s. And, even though we had been having a pleasant and uneventful day with errands so far, I was only cautiously optimistic. After all, my oldest, James, was off of his meds. And when he is off his meds the barrier between what he is thinking and what he will say is very faint — if it is there at all. Much to my surprise, it went fine. And, all except for one close call when I had to get James away from a very interesting looking biker-dude before he could remark about his tatoos,  and one other brief moment when James  was doing some interpretive dancing in the middle of the produce department, we were having what was, for us, a unremarkable trip.

We checked out and were heading for the door when we had to stop for the employee at the door to check our receipt against the purchases in our cart. Now, I had never seen this employee before. He was named — and I’m not making this up — Talon. And the visage that went with this name was pretty impressive. He definitely looked like he could hold his own in any scuffle. He had just finished counting the things in my cart and handed me my receipt when he turned around and came face to face with James, who was very interested in Talon. James leaned in toward Talon and, awed,  half-whispered, “Hey, Talon, are you………..tough?”

Amused, Talon smiled really big and replied with half a chuckle, “Not really, no.”  

And I laughed all the way to the van.

Originally posted February 15, 2012.

Milestone

We wrote with black marker on the skin of your chest.

Letters of your name:

first, last.

Underneath, our home phone number.

Your first trip alone without parent or aide,

A beautiful, distracted, autistic first-grader.

After you left,

We unsuccessfully throttled our panic.

Time has wheeled by, between that day and this.

Years filled with laughter — frustrations, too.

Days of  learning about hearts and brains:

yours, ours.

Today, you paused on the high school’s steps.

Stopped to wave, gave a little smile, and then you were gone.

I saw the shadow of your six year-old smile and your six-foot-frame.

My moment of unbridled happiness.

I don’t know if y’all know this, but April is Autism Awareness Month.

To mark that, I’m going to be reposting some of my old blog entries on Autism/James/Etc.

I hope that y’all like this.  I, for one, had forgotten so much of this stuff.

For me, it’s worth remembering.

Thanks for reading.

There are things that happen because of the internet.  Many are bad.  Many are great.

This one made me really happy.

It’s a story of 2 girls, born on the same day in Seoul and adopted 3 months later.

They look exactly alike.  They’ve started a project to see if they are, in fact, identical twins.

Watch the film of their first skype.

I really want this to be true.

And, while I’m on the topic of heart warming things, seen because of the internet, I want to link to this.

You may have already seen it.

I know that these shows are rigged, in that they scout people who actually have talent.  So, I know that this probably didn’t just happen out of the blue.  But the story from the performers standpoint is genuine.  They didn’t expect the response that they got from the audience or from the judges.

I love so many things about this.

His voice.  Unbelievable! Actually, her voice wasn’t at its best that day. It doesn’t matter because all I hear is him.

I also love at the end.  The absolute shock of the singers.  The reaction of the audience.

All of it.

It reminds me that I want to see an opera sometime.

Guess that I’ll put it on my life list.

I hope that y’all are having a good Good Friday.

This is what happens when I ask Eli to try on some clothes so that I can see if they fit.

I would never have thought to have done something like that when I was his age. He’s so funny.

Oh, and guess who couldn’t find her pillow last night when it was time to sleep? I never in my life thought that I’d have the need to say something like, “Dang it! Eli swiped my pillow to use for Kermit’s torso!”

Which goes to show how life will always surprise you.

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

I don’t know what the question is this morning. But, I feel like cheese biscuits are the answer.

This is a drippy, droppy, rainy day. On this sleepy Saturday, I’ve already given up on my trying-to-be-moderate-little coffee cup for one more more appropriately sized. This is not a day for lower caffeine resolutions.

We had crazy thunder and lightning last night. Driving home we watched the bolts striking all around, revealing the gorgeous clouds. James, my co-pilot, finally asked, after a particularly magnificent bit of lightning, “Was that the finale?”

It seems that we are still in Disney World mode.

Is that the finale.

How I love that James.

I must go…..the time for raspberry jam, and butter, and muscadine preserves is at hand.

Happy Saturday, y’all!

This week has sort of flown by…I think that happens after a trip.  You get re-acclimated to your life and, boom, there goes the time.

I have plans for the weekend.  Oh, yes.  They are grand, too.

I’m making churros, you see.

These.

Chocolate dipping sauce, too?  Sign me up.

Plans for chocolate are some of the best plans, don’t you think?

Happy Thursday, y’all!!

To Florida and back, again.

We’ve walked and eaten and marveled and ridden an shopped and slept like rocks.

More pics soon.

But, first, laundry and remembering how to cook.

Happy Saturday, y’all!

I don’t know about y’all, but my favorite meal of the day has to be breakfast.  In fact, I will happily eat breakfast foods for lunch and dinner, too.  I’m not a big fan of  sweet foods  in the morning, but give me a fried egg perched on top of a slice of avocado and a potato latke and I’m a very happy girl.  Oh, with a dash of Cholula on top.  Yummy!  In fact, if you need a great recipe for a latke/fried egg combo, look no further than the Smitten Kitchen.  Delicious.

But, I’m not here today to talk about hot breakfast.  Because, lots of times, that just isn’t an option — for weekdays at least.  That is where these granola bars come in.

Dear Jon spoke about these bars on facebook recently.  Saying something about how I had made them from base elements.  He is so funny.

The thing about these granola bars, though, is, like many things made at home vs. purchased, they taste so very good.  They can be made with whatever nuts and dried fruits that you like.  And, they will keep your stomach from rumbling and making your son say, aghast, “That was your stomach?  I thought it was the dishwasher!”

And, that is always a good thing.

Granola Bars

3 T. coconut oil or butter

2/3 cup honey

1 t. cinnamon

pinch salt

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup dried coconut (the natural, unsweetened variety)

1 cup chopped nuts of your choosing (pecans, almonds)

3 cups of dried fruit (Usually I do a golden raisin, dried cranberry combo)

1/4 cup sugar, optional depending on other ingredients and your own sugar preference

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/4 cup oat bran or wheat germ

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Combine the oats, coconut, and chopped nuts.  Put them on a very large jellyroll pan and toast until they are fragrant and light golden brown.  Meanwhile, in a 2 cup glass measuring cup, heat the coconut oil or butter, honey, cinnamon and salt in the microwave.  The length of time in the microwave will vary — I usually do about 45 seconds or so.  Watch it while it heats — the honey can bubble over if heated for too long.  Now it is time to prepare your pan for the bars.  I usually use an 8 x 11 glass pyrex dish.  You can also do 9 X 9 if that’s all you have.  Butter the dish and line it with parchment paper.  Leave the edges of the paper poking out above the sides of the pan so that you can use the paper to lift the bars out when they are done.  By now, the oats should be toasty.  So, get them out of the oven and reduce the temperature to 300.  Combine the oats/coconut/nuts with all the other ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir until well mixed and then press into the prepared pan.  Bake at 300 until done to your liking.  This is a range, of course, but I’d say at least 25 minutes.  I bake mine until they are a golden brown.

Now, this is the hard part; you have to wait at least 3 hours to cut them.

That’s it!

Happy Friday, y’all!!

This boy was up at the crack of dawn this morning — doing what, you ask? Talking to the birds. He’s trying to learn mockingbird, but for now, this is his best one.

The buster.

He did this at an outdoor family gathering last fall and managed to alarm just about everybody there.

(I apologize for the cracker munching…)

And again, a shorter video with, I think, a bit more authentic red tail call.

These folks that I live with, y’all.

Happy Sunday!!