On the Bloggin' Train
Not much to blog about since I've now posted TWO DAYS IN A ROW! Yay for me!! Actually this is the THIRD day. Is that a record or what?
Actually, I really don't have anything much to say at all. I just wanted to be able to say that I've blogged three days in a row. Shouldn't I be getting a medal or a box of cookies or something for my endeavor?
I really need to get up and get busy. I'm taking Noah to Austin for RPM in an hour. Ack! What a drive. 4 hours up and back - with no time to stop off in between. I learned the hardway with a "sidetrip" to Ikea that you don't leave Austin after 3:30 pm - because then you get stuck in the major traffic jam that is known as Belton and Temple. My goodness. Anyway, my mom is coming up at 8:30 to watch Nandini and Eli - which means, yes, she's out of the hospital and doing much, much better. And if there's anything that can get her blood pressure up and running, it's spending a day with my younger two kiddoes. :-) (And, for the record, she is dropping that dodo doctor like a hot potato!)
Noah is doing good with homeschool. I can tell that it's going so much better now that we're able to get to Austin more often. We found out that the Rod and Staff curriculum is the best one for him to use. He loves it, loves it, loves it. It's a Mennonite curriculum and is really simple and basic - no flash colors or drawings - and I think it's perfect for him. I can't rave about it enough. Actually, right now, we're just going to our local Mennonite store and buying story books. I need to get off my rear and start listing things on Ebay so that I can cough up the dough for the whole curriculum - which is surprisingly not that much - but, you know, we forgot to water that money tree in our backyard and it died sometime ago.
Anyway, I am in love with our local Mennonite store. They have the best foods - and so, oh my goodness, cheap. I've wanted to go in there forever - but I had a bit of an embarrassing incident at a backroads Amish store in Pennsylvania back in '01 that has kept me from gracing the door of anything Amish or Mennonite..... I was at a conference in Philly and rented a car with my colleague and we went up to Amish Country. Her family raised horses and she was looking for some sort of old-fashioned horse thingamajig - so we actually had to go off the tourist track and head down into the local stores. Well, I was just being an idiot and thought nothing of going in a sleeveless denim minidress. Hello??? What part of my brain thought that would be a good idea? In my defense, though, I was in my 20's and didn't have kids (which changes everything). Well, I didn't realize it was a big deal until we stepped into a local farm/feed store that only had 2 young men working in it. No big deal right? Until 5 minutes later when I turn around and, I'm not joking, practically every Amish woman in the community was standing behind the wood counter with their arms folded and their eyes shooting daggers - right at me! And let me tell you, I think I know what Eve must've felt like when she made a dash for that fig leaf. I said a quick "See ya!" to my friend and made a mad run for the car. And ever since then, once I got back to Texas, I've always ducked my head whenever I saw someone who was Mennonite because I had this fear that there was an Amish/Mennonite newspaper that got circulated around the U.S. - and that maybe on page 2 there'd be a picture of me in my offending mini-dress and hoop earrings with the words "WANTED" printed across my face and underneath, written in red, 'HARLOT!". So, yeah, that incident scarred me and I was always too timid to go into our local Mennonite store.
But I'm so glad that eventually my love for good, cheap food outweighed by desire for a good reputation and I went in and discovered the Rod and Staff books. Oh I love them so much! And if you google "Rod and Staff - Autism", you'll find that a lot of parents who homeschool their kids with autism use it. Oh! And the best part is that the people who work in the store are so incredibly nice. Did you know they have a big community in Guatemala? How cool is that? There's actually a Rod and Staff storybook about a little boy in Guatemala - but it was sold out. But Sim and I had a really nice talk with one of the ladies in there. Her son lives in Guatemala - so she was delighted to see Eli (who, in turn, was delighted to discover that they sold neon blue shark gummies). We had a great time. And, oh, and there's a boy in the community who has autism - who was also adopted like Noah. I don't know. It was just really neat. Here, all along, I was afraid of being judged and I was actually judging them. We're all just the same, aren't we?
Lesson learned.
Okay, I am seriously late getting ready. Noah is stil asleep and my house is a pigsty. It's my lifelong mission to fool my parents into thinking I'm actually a responsible adult who keeps a tidy house, clean children, and good, healthy food on the table. Which means, I've got 45 minutes to work a miracle.
Adios.
Leslie
Actually, I really don't have anything much to say at all. I just wanted to be able to say that I've blogged three days in a row. Shouldn't I be getting a medal or a box of cookies or something for my endeavor?
I really need to get up and get busy. I'm taking Noah to Austin for RPM in an hour. Ack! What a drive. 4 hours up and back - with no time to stop off in between. I learned the hardway with a "sidetrip" to Ikea that you don't leave Austin after 3:30 pm - because then you get stuck in the major traffic jam that is known as Belton and Temple. My goodness. Anyway, my mom is coming up at 8:30 to watch Nandini and Eli - which means, yes, she's out of the hospital and doing much, much better. And if there's anything that can get her blood pressure up and running, it's spending a day with my younger two kiddoes. :-) (And, for the record, she is dropping that dodo doctor like a hot potato!)
Noah is doing good with homeschool. I can tell that it's going so much better now that we're able to get to Austin more often. We found out that the Rod and Staff curriculum is the best one for him to use. He loves it, loves it, loves it. It's a Mennonite curriculum and is really simple and basic - no flash colors or drawings - and I think it's perfect for him. I can't rave about it enough. Actually, right now, we're just going to our local Mennonite store and buying story books. I need to get off my rear and start listing things on Ebay so that I can cough up the dough for the whole curriculum - which is surprisingly not that much - but, you know, we forgot to water that money tree in our backyard and it died sometime ago.
Anyway, I am in love with our local Mennonite store. They have the best foods - and so, oh my goodness, cheap. I've wanted to go in there forever - but I had a bit of an embarrassing incident at a backroads Amish store in Pennsylvania back in '01 that has kept me from gracing the door of anything Amish or Mennonite..... I was at a conference in Philly and rented a car with my colleague and we went up to Amish Country. Her family raised horses and she was looking for some sort of old-fashioned horse thingamajig - so we actually had to go off the tourist track and head down into the local stores. Well, I was just being an idiot and thought nothing of going in a sleeveless denim minidress. Hello??? What part of my brain thought that would be a good idea? In my defense, though, I was in my 20's and didn't have kids (which changes everything). Well, I didn't realize it was a big deal until we stepped into a local farm/feed store that only had 2 young men working in it. No big deal right? Until 5 minutes later when I turn around and, I'm not joking, practically every Amish woman in the community was standing behind the wood counter with their arms folded and their eyes shooting daggers - right at me! And let me tell you, I think I know what Eve must've felt like when she made a dash for that fig leaf. I said a quick "See ya!" to my friend and made a mad run for the car. And ever since then, once I got back to Texas, I've always ducked my head whenever I saw someone who was Mennonite because I had this fear that there was an Amish/Mennonite newspaper that got circulated around the U.S. - and that maybe on page 2 there'd be a picture of me in my offending mini-dress and hoop earrings with the words "WANTED" printed across my face and underneath, written in red, 'HARLOT!". So, yeah, that incident scarred me and I was always too timid to go into our local Mennonite store.
But I'm so glad that eventually my love for good, cheap food outweighed by desire for a good reputation and I went in and discovered the Rod and Staff books. Oh I love them so much! And if you google "Rod and Staff - Autism", you'll find that a lot of parents who homeschool their kids with autism use it. Oh! And the best part is that the people who work in the store are so incredibly nice. Did you know they have a big community in Guatemala? How cool is that? There's actually a Rod and Staff storybook about a little boy in Guatemala - but it was sold out. But Sim and I had a really nice talk with one of the ladies in there. Her son lives in Guatemala - so she was delighted to see Eli (who, in turn, was delighted to discover that they sold neon blue shark gummies). We had a great time. And, oh, and there's a boy in the community who has autism - who was also adopted like Noah. I don't know. It was just really neat. Here, all along, I was afraid of being judged and I was actually judging them. We're all just the same, aren't we?
Lesson learned.
Okay, I am seriously late getting ready. Noah is stil asleep and my house is a pigsty. It's my lifelong mission to fool my parents into thinking I'm actually a responsible adult who keeps a tidy house, clean children, and good, healthy food on the table. Which means, I've got 45 minutes to work a miracle.
Adios.
Leslie
Comments
There is also a small book on a child from India...I have it, so I'll look for the title and get back to you!
Lisa H.