Lucky me

I started thinking about things in a positive light today. And this is a bit strange because I am generally not an optimistic glass half full sort of gal AND I am sick, which seems to make me a bit more pessimistic than usual. I received some wonderful feedback on Andy which just makes me so GLAD. Proud. Lucky. He is doing SO WELL in school. We don't have the financial resources to do additional therapies beyond what the school district offers, but thank goodness we don't seem to need them. He is just thriving at school, talking in long sentences, enjoying engaging in cooperative play with others, potty trained now (woo HOO!) and just generally a happy healthy kid with some sensory quirks and some social delays. I think back to when he was 22 mos. old and received his autism diagnosis and it's hard to believe this is the same child. This is the child who never talked, lined up his toys, and spun in slow circles in the living room. This is the child who now will have long conversations with me, can express his needs specifically, has a huge vocabulary and has a genuine love and interest in other people. It's hard to let moments go by without hugging and kissing him...he's just that sweet and wonderful. My heart still aches hearing him call me Mommy, because I just didn't hear it for so much of his life. He played IN THE MUD this weekend, and he didn't cry about it at all, even though it was cold and gloppy and gooey. He let the rain fall down on him without screaming and crying. This wouldn't even have happened 3 months ago.

I am a lucky mom indeed. My boy is going to be just fine. I scrapbooked this pic of Andy today, I just love that picture, even if it is slightly out of focus.

Last weekend in January

I can't believe it's been a couple of weeks already. I've been really busy and kinda sick with a cold and sore throat...not a great combination!

We've had a wet and wild week here with the weather. It's been windy and rainy and the ground is just waterlogged (gotta love the clay soil we have around here...NOT!) Andy finally went back to school after a week's hiatus and was so excited to be back. He is pretty much day trained for potty training. It's been so long since he's had an accident. I can't believe this finally happened. We've been working on this for what seems like FOREVER!

I've been really good about my scrappy spending. I bought some crackle paints (2) on sale at a local scrapbook store and a few discounted Basic Grey papers. I also spent a gift certificate to another site. And that is it! Just a few more days of the month and I've spent less than $20...woo hoo! I wish I could say weight loss was going as well. :(

Andy held the gecko for the first time last night! He was great with Lon...so gentle and cautious. I took pictures of course. He also has been "helping" out in the yard, which is quite funny and posted here on the blog today. This was last weekend on our one sunny day. He loves using his toy tool and mimicking his dad's movements. This is how they learn.

Homebody weekend

We just hung out at home this weekend. It was actually sunny! It's been so gray and gloomy and raining here basically every day since we got back from Seattle. I did some scrapbooking, mostly of our Seattle trip a few week's back. Mr. Geek is working on a chicken coop (God help us) and I did a lot of weeding and prepping the ground for spring planting...radishes! I have a nice chunk of dirt I've been clearing and growing clover in to improve the soil quality for growing. Can't wait! Here are a few of my newest pages! I love doing Christmas pages!! The colors are so wonderful. The snow one with my son has a transparency over it which looks cooler in person than in the photo. I also used glimmer mist spray (how fun but messy!) and glitter glaze.

Scrappy Budget Time

It's a really good thing almost no new products in the scrap industry interest me. Really, nothing is floating my boat. So this must be a good time to set myself a budget-$25. I will not be looking at new product release threads on message boards and I am canceling all magazine subscriptions that try to sell me new product. I have too much product as it is already. $25 allows me to buy a stamp or two, some cardstock, some ink, adhesive, or something like that. I don't need any more patterned paper or embellies. I really want to scale back and go more and more simple, even though I've always been a clean lines sort of scrapper. I'm also pretty disgusted with the packaging of embellishments and the associated costs, environmental and financial.

So I don't have the latest products...who cares. It's all about the memories, it's not a fashion show, at least to me. I've never been a trendy sort of person, why have I been that way with my scrapbooking? 2008, the year of living more simply, cutting back. spending less time on line and more time with my family and exercising and getting healthier still.

Merry New Year!

We're having some crazy wild wet weather here in California. The winds have been super gusty and the rain hasn't quit all day. We need it and everything, but rain is so much better in moderation...because a flood ain't useful!! We did venture out to have some work done on my car. I couldn't wait to get back home again.

We had a great trip to Seattle for Christmas. The weather was bad, but really fairly normal for this time of year and it really makes my parents so happy to see the kids at Christmas. I also got my hair chopped off short and am donating the hair. It's a LOT of HAIR!

Highlights of our trip include:

Christmas morning (of course)
Garden d'lights at the botanical garden in Bellevue
Doughnut date at Top Pot
Coffee drinks made by Maw and Paw (almond lattes with plenty o' foam)
Playing in the snow at Mt. Shasta (which desperately NEEDS more snow)
Top 10 toys "playdate"
walk in the park with Mr. Geek in the snow on Christmas Day
Myrlene cutting my hair
Museum of Flight (Rob loved those radios from the WWII section)
seeing a ferruginous hawk near Mt. Shasta
stopping at seeing the snow geese at Sacramento NWR AND a peregrine falcon
walking on Lake Shastina
feeding trout at the fish hatchery
Woodland Park Zoo- the ruddy duck in breeding plumage ALREADY!
the amgen double helix bridge in Seattle...totally cool!