Happy New Year

I love this year – 2010. It just looks so new and fresh and promising.

Today I got some money I’ve been expecting, so now I can move out of this rat-hole we’ve been living in for the last 6 months. The Palisades in Bellevue Washington. Without exception, the worst place I’ve ever lived. I’ll make a separate blog post about it, because I don’t want to drag down this one.

I didn’t do much today for a change. I’ve been working constantly – just launched a huge project, plus keeping all my other regular clients happy. I have new potential clients I’m discussing details with, so business is not just holding but improving.

I’ve had some challenges in my personal life lately. Had a horrible fight with Brad and managed to burn that bridge. It kind of needed to be done, but it’s not any less painful. And I said some things I shouldn’t have, which I tend to do when feeling defensive. So I’m healing from that whole drama. I did apologize for the things I said but not with an eye on resuming the friendship. I just regretted what I said.

Charlie is still having trouble at school, but he’s doing better than he ever has. And for the first time he is in a program/place with people who truly understand his problems and seem to know how to handle them. His teacher claims to really love him in class, despite the challenges he brings. She’s probably only the 2nd special ed teacher he’s ever had who not only understands and cares but has what it takes to reach him.

That being said, even though I detest living in Bellevue, I’m going to make sure we stay in Bellevue when we move so that he can stay in his current school/class/situation. That actually shows how much I think of the teacher/program he has now – because I seriously want out of Bellevue. Fortunately we can move to right up to the Redmond/Kirkland side and still have his school as the home school. Then I can just shop and do errands in Redmond and Kirkland and avoid Bellevue for the most part.

I’ve really enjoyed Facebook lately. I don’t like its interface as much as other platforms. But for some reason it’s really popular, and I’ve been able to connect and really re-acquaint myself with a large number of my graduating high school class. I’m sure a reunion in person would be great – a whole other element to see each other face to face. But this adds so much more. I get a glimplse into their daily lives, pics of them and their families, a daily feed of what is important in their lives, what they do for a living, etc. It’s interesting to see how people have grown and what they’ve done with their lives in the nearly 25 years since we’ve graduated.

I guess that is enough spewing via the keyboard for one day. I have to go check Facebook…

He’s Ba-a-a-a-ack…

Timmy 2-$ has returned with his special dose of insanity – and I fear life will never be the same!

I’m posting this in the category “Weird Shit You Never Saw Coming” – cause hey, that’s what it is….

Autumn Post Card

Really beautiful fall colors in Kirkland, WA. This is heading toward the Kirkland Marina from Juanita. I’ve been taking pictures of the changing leaves all Autumn, but this is the first one that has really captured the vibrancy of the colors. This was taken with my iPhone, surprisingly!

Too Many Thoughts In My Head

I swear, I need a brain catheter. I have so much in my head that I need to get out, but I don’t have time to blog it all. So I usually wind up not blogging at all, and it all gets mashed up in an internal traffic jam.

I guess I’ll do one big update today, then just commit to blogging in bits here and there as the mood strikes me. That’s what I used to do on Diary-X, but for some reason having an actual blog, in this format, makes me feel like I have to write little essays and keep it formal and limited.

But hey, it’s *my* blog, right? What I really want is to be able to do little silly, simple updates whenever I want, so that’s what I’m going to do. I’m also going to change the layout & format a bit in the near future. But I digress. Here is my big update!

CHARLIE

First and foremost on my mind lately is Charlie. He is 7 (and a few months)-years-old now and in the second grade. He is in a program called “Cascade,” which is a “special education” program for kids with severe behavior and emotional problems due to developmentaly disability, health impairment or other issues. He was recently re-evaluated, and his official diagnosis has changed from “Developmentally Disabled” to “Health Impaired.”

Actually, I’m not even going to go into it much about Charlie. It’s too hard/emotional and there is too much to explain. He has problems that are organic and he is still undergoing testing. He will be evaluated again at Children’s Hospital early next year, and I expect their diadnosis of ADHD and ODD with possible Autism to change to Autism with ADHD & ODD. (ODD is Oppositional Definace Disorder)

He is really good at reading & writing, which I suspected he would be, even though his speech cognition (how well he understands what is said to him) is only 16th percentile (to be average would be 50th percentile). This is something that happens sometimes with autistic people, even in extreme cases. They can’t communicate verbally, but they can write like a college professor. Charlie, fortunately, only has the verbal impairment to a smaller degree. And I have it a bit myself. I definitely communicate better in e-mail than I do on the phone or in person. I’m really not surprised he is doing so well with reading.

Anyway, he is getting tall and is a bit lanky, as his meds surpress his appetite quite a bit. He loves to draw and build elaborate cities with his GeoTrax sets and really likes Wheel Of Fortune. I’ll post some pics in the next day or two and maybe a video or two. He chose the costume of fighter pilot for Halloween so he could be a Blue Angel.

WORK

Work is great when I can do it, but Charlie is only in school 28 hours per week, and it is really hard to work when he is home. I try to work after he goes to bed, but I am usually so exhausted by then that I make stupid mistakes and it’s not usually a good idea!

My plan was to turn Blog Solace into an actual business with a registered business name and everything, but it turns out it is better to stay individual. So I am turning Blog Solace into an overall blog help site while still offering my services on that site and SherryDedman.com as an independent contractor/individual. I keep improving my skills and getting more development jobs, so my rates keep going up, which is good. I just wish I could devote more time to it.

I would definitely be a work-a-holic if I didn’t have Charlie to look after. I really love what I do and plan to expand on it as soon as I can, teaching classes and possibly writing an e-book or two, if not an actual book for publication. I like the idea of the e-book, though, because it can be updated regularly – tech books get out-of-date really quickly.

LIFE

Life lately is pretty much just Charlie and Work. I’m not dating (I haven’t got the energy or emotional reserve for it right now, not to mention the time). I’ve fallen behind in my exercise habits, so I cancelled Netflix and got a monthly membership to 24-Hour Fitness for the same price and plan to start catching up on that. I have no travel plans and wow, I guess life is pretty boring, recreationally-speaking.

I guess a lot of what is on my mind is plans for Charlie, plans for my site/blogs, travelling I’d like to do, some development plans I have, etc. Oh, and I would love to work on my novel durning NaNoWriMo – I got a good start on it last year! At this rate, I’ll have it done in 2015. LOL

Charlie Party

I’m on my way to a small party for Charlie in his classroom at his school. He gets a party for moving up a level in the Cascade special ed program.

He also had his 3 year evaluation, and his diagnosis has changed from “Developmentally Disabled” to “Health Impaired.” I have no idea what the difference is – can anyone clue me in?

Vista Print E-Mail This Morning

I woke up to my usual Vista Print e-mail this morning, but it was a little bit different.  Usually it’s some coupon for a bevy of free items or free shipping of mouse pads or something, but not today.

Today the subject line read, “Stuck Up For A Buck!”  I’m not really sure what that means exactly, but I’m pretty sure they meant “Stock Up For A Buck.”  A little proofreading goes a long way!

I like Vista Print, actually.  I got magnets for my car doors with my business name and URL on them.  And of course business cards, etc.  Here is a pic of the car door magnet on my car:

Just not sure about this latest offer… LOL

Health Challenge

I joined the John P. Health Challenge today!  It’s been started by @JohnPoz (if you Twitter).  It goes for 12 weeks and has a sensible but strict prescription!

I plan to log my participation (and hopefully progress) by writing in my blog here, in the category “Health Challenge.”  You can find it by going to http://sherryness.com/category/health-challenge/ if you want to follow just my progress.

Today was my first day. I walked 40 minutes and followed the food guidelines. So far so good!

My personal goals are to:

• Double my exercise (includes starting strength training and walking every day, not just 3-4 times per week)
• Improving what I eat, as prescribed by the challenge
• Cutting my portions by 40%-50% as prescribed by the plan
• Drinking only water and coffee (sweetened with Splenda instead of my usual raw sugar) - no sodas, slurpees, etc (liquid sugar calories)
• Snack only on nuts and fruits
• Lose 25 pounds in 12 weeks

So far, so good.  My first short-term goal is to lose my first 10 pounds by April 23rd, so I’ll be looking good for the Leonard Cohen concert!   So I’m pushing especially hard right now. 

If you Twitter, you can follow me, I’m @sherryness . And go to http://search.twitter.com and search on #HealthChallenge to follow others who are participating and join in the fun/work.

Thinkin’ Bout A Change

I’m bored with my blog theme.  Thinking about changing it, but I’m not quite sure what I want to do.  There are some life-stream type WordPress themes out there – might try one of those.  They have built-in widgets and things for your Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc. streams.  Might be kind of cool.

Visually, I’m thinking dark blues, black, silver and white.  Something starkly different, just for the heck of it!  I’ll have to see what I can come up with.

Nifty New Twitter Thingy

Isn’t it pretty?  It’s over yonder, that way (let your eyeballs float to the right a little bit).  I’m turning into such a Twitter freak.  I actually considered completely re-doing my theme to match my Twitter thingy.  That’s dedication.

So What Is Up With The Pants?

I have a very hard time finding pants for Charlie.  Besides the fact that he was part of that mini-baby-boom in 2002 (they’re blaming 9/11 for that – whole other story) and everything in his size is gone if I don’t get there as soon as they put everything out, for some reason they just almost never make pull-on pants in his size for boys!

I don’t understand that.  Virtually all pants that I see for boys are jeans (and of course nearly all of those are zip with snap or button).  And event he dress pants are the same way.  So I look for sweat pants for him, and I can almost never find normal sweat pants in his size, either.

They’re either Adidas or Nike and $30-$40 each.  Or they are made of that slick material – and being a “sensory kid,” Charlie can’t tolerate the noise they make when he walks or moves!

I don’t understand 1) why they make most pants for a kid his age that have zip/snap (that’s a challenge for any kid, and especially for Charlie) and 2) whatever happened to good old sweat pants in regular “sweats” material?  Frustrating!  This wouldn’t be an issue, I guess, if I’d learned to sew like my Mom wanted me to!  LOL

Work is awesome, but it’s kind of driving me insane.  I’m at that point where I am getting more work than I can do, which is the classic sign it’s time to raise your rates.  So I guess I will be doing that soon.  It’s good, because every time I raise my rates, I attract larger/better jobs from bigger sites/companies.  But it’s also a lot more pressure, a lot more communication and it still doesn’t ever seem to leave me with evenings/weekends free *at all*.  I’m always working.

I think I’m just going to have to start having set hours and be firm about it.  Most offices are only open “8-4:30″ or whatever.  Maybe I need to start doing that.  And just take on a few small/side jobs nights and weekends *only when I feel like it*.  I need some free time that I can count on, or I’m going to burn out/go nuts.

Last but not least, ‘Quantum of Solace’ came out on DVD today!  I got it from the video store the moment they opened this morning and am finally going to watch it tonight.  The title was the inspiration for my business name, Blog Solace, so it’s about time I saw it, I think!

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