Just A Little Update, Yet Again
I should really keep this blog updated so I don’t have to do these big updates!
CURRENT EVENTS
Today is the 62nd anniversary of my Mom’s birth. Donna gave me flowers, and we went to lunch in Seattle. We always celebrate Mom’s birthday one way or another since she died and try to be extra-nice to each other. I’m sure she’d be pleased; she was always pleading with us to get along when we were kids! Anyway, Happy Birthday, Mom; we miss you!
CURRENTLY READING:
I started on a book called ‘Labyrinth’ but have had almost no time to try to read it. I haven’t read enough to form any opinion of it yet.
CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
Everything! Business is booming, which is wonderful. I now have a base of regular clients and new work coming in all the time. I’ve been learning PHP/MySQL which really helps increase the number of projects I am qualified to take on. Soon after that I am planning on developing my first WordPress theme from scratch. I’m not the greatest designer there ever was, but I think developing a theme from scratch will teach me a LOT and improve my skills/offerings that much more.
CURRENT MOOD:
Lot’s of inner/spiritual improvements going on. In the last year, I’ve truly gone from simply trying to survive to actually feeling optimistic about life and hoping for things I’d kind of given up on. I’m actively working on the things I need to do to make positive changes and to truly be able to thrive and not just survive.
CURRENT RELATIONSHIP STATUS:
Life being totally single isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it’s better than being in a bad relationship. I feel I’ve left behind constant stress, bad feelings, distrust and low self-esteem by standing alone and not running back to the “band-aid” relationship I had for so long with the person I was seeing after my divorce. That relationship coming right on top of my divorce left a very bad taste in my mouth for very long time. But I’m slowly but surely beginning to find that that is not all there is out there. And my “Relationship Status” has gone from “Single, Not-Looking” to “Single, and Slowly-Maybe-Opening-Up-To-New-Possibilities.” 
FUTURE THOUGHTS:
All of my plans for my business are coming together with all kinds of exciting things in the works. I’m even branching out soon to Video Tutorials for my blog on Blog Solace for some of the more advanced WordPress plug-ins. This should bring in quite a bit of new traffic.
The trip to San Francisco is still on, but now Donna is planning to come with Charlie & Me for the first 3 days or so. It will be really fun to visit, *with her*, all our old stomping grounds and meander down memory lane. And meeting Brian is a must! If he has time for us between all his acting and VO gigs.
Anyway, the future looks bright – Exciting and promising possibilities . . .
WRAP-UP
I’m not really feelin’ a wrap-up. Life is fluid; it keeps moving and changing. Here’s to the next event on the horizon!
Charlie Update
New post on AllAboutCharlie.com = Results I got today from his neuro testing two weeks ago.
I must say I’m not thrilled that they weren’t more helpful. But it furthered my opinion that his senosry issues are causing his ADHD symptoms .
So much so that I came home and Googled my idea and found that I’m not the first to have this idea. There is a book called The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder
And it is specifically about how ADHD is often mistakenly diagnosed (and drugged), when it’s really a sensory integration disorder that is causing discomfort and thus fidgeting and being easily distracted. I will definitely be pursuing sensory integration therapy before I consider adhd drugs again for Charlie. I don’t think they were right for him, and I often thought they were detrimental.
Charlie The Navigator
This morning Charlie and I were outside waiting for his bus, as usual. And it got to be late, then later, then – “Ok, I’m calling dispatch, ’cause it is like way late now…”
It turns out that the main road the buses are dispatched onto before heading out to their routes was basically a parking lot due to an accident or something, and it was going to be at least another 20 minutes before the bus got there. So I decided just to drive Charlie to school, which was cool. I had somewhere I had to go after he left, anyway.
So we headed out, and I realized I had to go on the same road that was basically a “parking lot” to get him *to* school. I was a little bit worried, but I figured the traffic wouldn’t be a dead stop going both ways, and I was going the opposite direction the bus would have been, so figured it would be fine.
So I headed to that road, and on the way I passed an interstion of a road which, in the past, I had suspected would be a “short cut” to Charlie’s school. But I’d never had time to really go exploring, so I didn’t know for sure. But as we passed the intersection, Charlie said, “Mommy, you’re going the wrong way. That’s the way to school – you passed it!” Aha… so that is a shortcut from our house when going that direction after all!
The next intersection was the gridlocked one in question, and wow – it was a parking lot BOTH directions! So I turned around and headed back to the street Charlie told me to turn onto and headed that way. When I got to the street his school was on, I wasn’t sure if we were to the left or the right of it at that point, thus didn’t know which way to turn. So I just asked the six-year-old navigator which way to go.
He said to turn left, and he’s always been good about knowing what city we’re in when we’re out & about and when we’re close to Donna’s house, etc., so I decided to believe him. Plus, he had been that way before on the bus, and I hadn’t – so it made sense he would know.
And he did! It was so cool, because he was so proud of himself. Thanks to him, we got him to school on time (a little early, even) and he had the best day at school! He was telling his one-on-one aid about how he knew the way to school and told Mommy and everything and just seemed so happy and proud.
When he came home, his daily report showed that he had had a really good day at school. Maybe I should set up little easy-to-win challenges for him in the morning from now on. Just to get him feeling good about himself and excited about the day. It certainly seemed to make a difference today.
Plus, I was really impressed he directed me to school! We probably would have sat in traffic for at least a half an hour if it weren’t for him being aware and knowing how to get to school. I was proud of him!
Just A Litte Update
CURRENT EVENTS:
Wow, it just keeps snowing. It let up enough to take Charlie to Donna’s to spend the night on Saturday, with plans for him to stay over Saturday and Sunday. But now the weather is looking like getting him back tomorrow is going to be a challenge! I have to do it, though. He is driving her nuts. LOL If you’re not used to being around him all the time, two days in a row with him can be a bit much. So I’m committed to getting him back tomorrow, for her sanity. Plus I miss him!
CURRENTLY READING:
The Savage Garden
CURRENTLY WORKING ON:
All of my favorite/regular clients have had work for me this month! I love working on their sites and the fact that so many of my clients become my friends. The work is very varied, and one of the jobs affords me the opportunity to learn aMember for WordPress! So I’m especailly enjoying that.
CURRENT MOOD:
Feeling really good about life. Life seems to be finally normalizing. I have a few different streams of steady income, which has been the basis of my nerves (or virtual nervous breakdown) for so long. Not knowing how to provide for Charlie. Now my business is getting really regular and on the verge of thriving, and Donna has had a lot of work for me as well. So I feel like I can concentrate on living instead of just trying to survive. It helps me enjoy quality time with Charlie (since I’m not a nervous wreck all the time) and helps me get other neglected areas of my life sorted out, such as time for myself and working on my friendships.
CURRENT RELATIONSHIP STATUS:
I’ve cut out seeing Nicholas entirely. This has been a long time coming, but as many of you know was a difficult thing just to “cut out.” He’s been a part of my life, and Charlie’s too, since Charlie was 9 months old. It’s for the best, as I’m sure each person in my life would agree (and probably cheer). Among other things, there was no way I was ever going to move on and find someone new with him in my life, and there was no future for us beyond what we had already achieved – which was mostly just fighting about our relationship. It wasn’t good for either one of us, and it’s over.
FUTURE THOUGHTS:
This next year is going to be about building my business, working with Charlie on his challenges, and probably moving to Redmond or Bellevue. Bothell is a bit too far out of my usual stomping grounds for me, plus this townhome is a little bit too expensive for me. My lease is up May 1st, and I plan to move then.
I also plan to start to get my life back a bit, with more time for “me.” I’ve just been taking care of Charlie for so long and nothing else, that I really lost myself a bit. I hope to socialize more, repair some neglected friendships and make new friends.
I also want to take a vacation next summer. Charlie loves the movie “Homeward Bound II” – the live action movie with the “two dogs and one cat” as Charlie says! It takes place in San Francisco, and he said, “Mommy, is there a Golden Gate Bridge in Erf?” (which means “Earth,” which to him means “Is there really such a thing as a Golden Gate Bridge, or was that made up for TV?”) And I told him yes, and he said, “Can we go there someday?” So I said sure, we can go on vacation next year.
Next year I won’t have been back to San Francisco for 8 full years, and I think it’s time I did. There are a lot of “hauntings” there – That’s where I spent my teen years well into my twenties, and it’s where my Mom still lived when she died. The few times I’ve been back, I’ve seen her everywhere I would go, there. And so, so many memories, good and bad, everywhere. Massive nostalgia – so much history. It was so overwhelming I just haven’t wanted to go back.
But I did love it there, and I would love to go there with my own kid and show him around. Show him the fun things I used to do, places I used to go, where I went to school and lived. I think it would be a good thing. And to show him that there really is a Golden Gate Bridge “in Erf.” LOL There’s also someone there I’d like to say hello to, my first and favorite client – or as he says, “Client-Schmient” ’cause we’re friends now! That would be awesome, right Brian?
WRAPUP:
I’ll leave you all with this video I took out my front window today – Snow and more snow!
The Blog Is Back
I’m still working on the re-design, but I’m happy enough with it to get it going again! So there’s no putting it off – Time to get blogging again!
Last night I was supposed to go see my friend Brad play piano at Studio Seven in Seattle. I was really looking foward to it for several reasons, the biggest two being that I’ve never seen him perform before and this was the only night Donna could babysit Charlie for the whole holiday season, and I wasn’t going to get to go out at all otherwise.
So I was very happy yesterday to be going out – made my preparations, wore a brand new nice sparkly outfit, all of that stuff. Took Charlie to meet Donna at Chuck E Cheese in Bellevue at 4:15, and the traffic wasn’t even that bad getting there – so far…… But then….
I wanted to be at the club when they opened at 5:30 so I could hang out with Brad a bit then see him play when he went on. He was the first one on at 6:00 p.m. (It was a Starbucks showcase of several different musicians), so I absolutely had to be there by then.
So dropping Charlie at 4:15, I felt pretty good about being at the club between about 5:30 and 5:45, even with Friday night traffic (it’s normally about a half hour drive or less with no traffic). But it was not to be. My entire evening took place in my car!
Stalled vehicles and other problems on I-5 in Seattle caused severe problems on both 520 and I-90, and I spent TWO HOURS in my car on the freeway and never got out of Bellevue. I literally got on the freeway at 4:15 and got off the freeway at the very next exit 2 hours later. Thus missing the performace.
I was supposed to be back to pick up Charlie by 7:15, so I couldn’t even go to the club and see any of the other performers either. I drove back to Chuck E Cheese, picked up Charlie, and drove home in terrible traffic. Not the evening I had planned!
Fortunately Donna has said she can babysit on the 20th, and I have a few different things I can do that night, so the entire holiday party season isn’t a bust! And I’m sure I’ll get to see Brad perform at some point. If you’d like to see him play, he has a video up on YouTube here.
Other than that, I’ve just been working hard – Business has been steady, if a bit slow. Fortunately my hosting sales have been good, which is something I’m really working on increasing. I really like that aspect of it, and my customer service skills are really a big part of why people choose me for hosting over some big company. It’s high-quality hosting and the servers are not “oversold,” so it’s a really good choice for WordPress installations. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a sales pitch, but if you’re interested in hosting, here is my hosting sales page: Blog Solace Web Hosting
Charlie is doing ok in school but still having a lot of problems. I’m encouraged by the attitude of his new teachers and prinicipal, though. And he has an appointment at Children’s Hospital in January (finally) for further neurological testing, so hopefully that will help narrow down what his actual probelms are and the best way to help him.
Other than that, I’ve just been using Twitter a lot. I realized I was Twittering so much, I might as bring back my blog. So I did! That badge in the upper, right-hand corner has my most recent “Tweet” in it and links back to my Twitter updates. Add me if you Twitter!
All Over The Map Today
Today started with my alarm not going off! So Charlie missed the bus, and I had to take him to school. When I got to school, they asked Charlie which lunch he wanted – the chili or the chili-cheese wrap. Having never had either of these contraptions, he wasn’t sure what to say, so he just chose chili. He took his admittance slip and went to class, and I headed back home.
When I got home, my phone rang and it was the Special Ed coordinator of Charlie’s school. She was letting me know that they agreed to all the things I wanted for Charlie if I was going to allow him to move to yet another new school. Including a visit to the new school with his principal before the move, a one-on-one aide, increased speech therapy and a new I.E.P. meeting and new I.E.P. So now it’s official – Charlie will be going to a new school on Monday.
I decided to go to the new school to get the registration/emergency notification paperwork filled out ahead of time. I forgot my directions that I had printed out, so I pulled into a Tully’s parking lot and scammed some Wi-Fi and got the address and directions off the ‘net with my iPod touch. Better than driving all the way back home!
Anyway, while I was at the school, the principal and Charlie’s new teacher happened to be free and asked me to join an impromptu meeting. I met with them and told them all I could about Charlie and his history, what to expect, etc.
And regarding the move, interestingly they both seemed to be on my side. That moving him was a bad idea, and for all the same reasons. And didn’t believe the solution was solid. I was encouraged by how much time they took to hear about Charlie and how genuinely concerned they were. I was also encouraged that I was dealing with reasonable people for a change. Hopefully it will be a smooth transition and the true start to Charlie’s 1st grade and making a lot of progress this year.
After that I drove back home via Woodinville and got some $2.89/gal gasoline at Arco and headed home. When Charlie’s bus arrived, he told me he was very hungry and wanted a snack because the chili was “too spicy.” I suspected that – why would they feed kids chili? I think that’s really weird. So I got him a snack and some water for the car and then took him to Bellevue to my sister’s so she could take him to Chuck E. Cheese – and here I sit – kidless in a quiet house, writing in my blog! For the next hour, anyway. Yay!
So today I went from Bothell to Redmond to Bothell to Kenmore to Woodinville to Bothell to Bellevue and back to Bothell. Fortunately the scenery was gorgeous and the day was sunny and bright, showing off all the colors of the autumn leaves. So while I’d rather have taken a walk in it, at least I got to enjoy it from my car. And at least since I had some annoying errands to do, I got to enjoy the journey.
And on the subject of “locations,” I have had some interesting hits to my blog lately, according to sitemeter. Two hits in the last week from the Waterloo in Europe and one today from the Waterloo in Canada. What is the universe trying to tell me?
The only thing it makes me think of (besides Napoleon and the palendrome that goes “Able was I ere I saw elbA.”) is this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUz5zXywhY
Which, of course, also makes me think of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mzwbiVghnc
So like I said, all over the map today! Waterloo, too!
KirklandBellevueRedmond.com
I just launched a new site all about the area I live in and love – the East Side of the Seattle Washington area.
It’s called, simply, Kirkland Bellevue Redmond , and it’s at http://KirklandBellevueRedmond.com
I plan to post something there nearly every day – from pictures, to anecdotes, to local deals and steals, businesses opening and closing, pictures, video, cheap gas prices – just anything I come across that I’d like to share about this area that I love.
Today I posted about cheap gas prices and put up a gallery of pictures I took of autumn leaves and the Kirkland Waterfront on Lake Washington Boulevard in Kirkland, Washington.
The Conqueror Worm by Edgar Allan Poe
I love to post this near Hallowe’en:
THE CONQUEROR WORM
Lo! ’tis a gala night
Within the lonesome latter years!
An angel throng, bewinged, bedight
In veils, and drowned in tears,
Sit in a theatre, to see
A play of hopes and fears,
While the orchestra breathes fitfully
The music of the spheres.
Mimes, in the form of God on high,
Mutter and mumble low,
And hither and thither fly-
Mere puppets they, who come and go
At bidding of vast formless things
That shift the scenery to and fro,
Flapping from out their Condor wings
Invisible Woe!
That motley drama-oh, be sure
It shall not be forgot!
With its Phantom chased for evermore,
By a crowd that seize it not,
Through a circle that ever returneth in
To the self-same spot,
And much of Madness, and more of Sin,
And Horror the soul of the plot.
But see, amid the mimic rout
A crawling shape intrude!
A blood-red thing that writhes from out
The scenic solitude!
It writhes!-it writhes!-with mortal pangs
The mimes become its food,
And the angels sob at vermin fangs
In human gore imbued.
Out-out are the lights-out all!
And, over each quivering form,
The curtain, a funeral pall,
Comes down with the rush of a storm,
And the angels, all pallid and wan,
Uprising, unveiling, affirm
That the play is the tragedy “Man,”
And its hero the Conqueror Worm.
– EDGAR ALLAN POE -
All About Charlie
I finally launched a web site all about my son Charlie, who has autism/ASD and ADHD: http://allaboutcharlie.com/
AllAboutCharlie.com is All About Charlie (and a bit about me as well).
Post Traumatic Stress….
I went to kcci.com for the first time in about 4 months, just to see what’s going on. And what is the first god-damned-mother-fucking thing I see?
‘36 counties are now under advisories, watches, or severe weather warnings.”
You know, unless you’re a god-damned farmer and *have* to live in such a place – why the hell would you?
I was traumatized by crap like this when I lived there – normally bad weather doesn’t bother me. But when my child started school and bad weather became a huge factor in whether my child made it home safely or not – or if I had to drive on ice and snow and all that crap – it became a huge factor. Being separated from my child by potentially death-inducing weather traumatized me like you can’t believe.
I am so glad to be away from it. And I don’t think I’ll be visiting Iowa – or KCCI.com – anytime soon…
