Inadequate Materials

Last night, we fought some crazy traffic and squeezed into the tiniest seats I've ever seen for a chance to hear Barack Obama speak. As you can see, we weren't wealthy enough to afford the good seats up front. Luckily, we had an excellent view of the Jumbotron! Let it never be said that Major Dad and I have the skills to take a good selfie... Those seats were seriously so tiny, the only thing that stopped me from getting up taking a walk to ease my back pain was the knowledge that the drop was so steep, jumping up might cause me to topple right off the balcony and be tackled by Obama's Secret Service detail. This is assuming I survived the fall. I truly don't know how Senators fans do it. It was a fun (and incredibly expensive) evening. Obama is a smart and interesting man. He discussed (among other things) how the current state of the world is part of a pattern seen throughout history, and how many young people are doing the important work that needs...

My youngest went for a long-awaited MRI on Friday. Because he's non-verbal and can't stay still, things like this require the poor guy to have a general anaesthetic, which turns a 45-minute scan into a day-long ordeal, complete with fasting. Tell any 13 year-old boy he can't have breakfast, or lunch, or even water, and see how well that goes over.  My zen-like commitment to meditation and mindfulness somehow went right out the window during the build-up to this event. By the time we were leaving the house at 6:30 AM, I'd already prepared myself for the following dramatic scenes: an early-morning wrestling match at the fridge a tantrum all the way to the hospital arriving late because of rush-hour traffic more wrestling matches in the waiting room, during sedation, at gas-mask time, and after waking him up in recovery  For the record , not one of these things actually happened .  As is often the case when you're married to the military, I was o...

Life continues to truck along around here. The snow is finally all gone, and has been promptly replaced with equal amounts of rain. But I'm British, so this is fine with me. I have an impressive collection of Wellington boots, and all my hobbies involve staying indoors until the weather looks better anyway. Thanks to Debra at She Who Seeks for the really fun Tin Foil Hat contest. Anakin thoroughly enjoyed participating. If I'd planned this properly, I'd have pulled back a little and turned that Elizabethan Collar around the right way, but of course, I got two shots off in rapid succession before the entire get-up was shredded and lying on the floor. Like kids, cats don't appreciate a thing you do for them. Most of what's on my TV these days is the NHL playoffs, so I decided to make old Hubs a pair of lucky socks. I've wanted to knit socks for years but wasn't confident I could pull it off. Any time I've ever seen anyone working on socks, I'...

I've been active (if you could really call it that) with my local autism support group for a couple of years now. I am technically listed on the executive board as "Secretary". The fact that I had to type that word using two fingers is a little ironic. And I have done nothing remotely involving paperwork since I started with the group, nor do I dare touch any of the finances. My role has actually been a little closer to "Chief Crafter", occasionally dragging my eldest, tech-iest child along for some help with tasks that involve the computer. As today is World Autism Awareness Day, and as I'm already starting to backslide on my blog, I thought I'd share a few of the crafts I've come up with to hopefully sell at our local fundraising walk this summer. Most of these can be made with less than a buck's worth of dollar store or ebay items. The most expensive item (the bookmark) still comes in at well under $2.  Faux suede cord and clasps from ...

Like everyone else trying to avoid the current state of the world, I spend too much time on Pinterest. Whoever came up with this site is a genius. It’s the perfect way for serial procrastinators to believe they’re doing something productive. At this very moment I have 1879 projects pinned and waiting to be completed. In the handful of years since I started pinning, I have completed approximately 6 Pinterest projects. Perfect crime. On a related topic, if you are a procrastinator or general scatterbrain, I highly recommend this podcast . It will present you with countless handy habit-changing strategies that you can tuck away in your brain to either try or ignore. It’s basically Pinterest for your ears. Anyway, while pinning projects I know full well I'm never going to get around to, I've come across a few mugs that really speak to where I am in life. Case in point: If there's one thing that makes up for the wrinkles and chin hair that happen after 40, it's...

And poof! Just like that, spring break is over. Don’t feel too badly for me. For reference, this is what spring break looks like in my neck of the woods: Those snow banks are so high, it’s getting to a point where I can’t see the neighbours anymore. Which, to be honest, is exactly how I like it. But that’s not the point. My 13 year-old had three days at a fantastic autism day camp where he had the time of his life, and spent the rest of the break raiding the fridge. My 15 year-old spent the week alternatively holed up in his pit of a bedroom writing code, hanging out with his friends, and raiding the fridge.  It has just dawned on me why there’s never anything in the fridge. The other exciting event of spring break: That’s a full tub of homemade Instant Pot Yogurt splashed all the way from the kitchen to the plasma car (why do we still have a plasma car?!). I won’t rat on who caused that calamity, but I will give you a hint. He’s in the pictu...

Are blogs even a thing anymore? Let’s find out! A couple of times a week, I think about this abandoned blog. I didn’t simply forget about it one day and leave it behind. I just couldn’t quite get the posts right anymore. It took a while for me to realize that the blog and my life have outgrown each other, and if things are to ever move forward, one of us is going to have to change. The bad news is that I can’t go back to having toddlers. And there is not a sad enough emoji in existence to express how I feel about that one. Once I could talk about two year-olds smearing poop on the walls, playing soccer naked, and generally being hilarious. Now I have teenagers. And anyone who was ever a teenager knows that it’s not cool to violate their privacy all over the internet, whether anyone’s reading or not. And besides, teenagers aren’t hilarious. They’re horrifying. So, just like in real life, I’m going to have to switch gears here and focus on me. I’m burning this thing to ...