Thursday, July 21, 2011
Recovering...
The last few days have been a real eye opening experience as I recover from having cancer removed from my body. For about a month I was a nervous wreck fearing I might not live long enough to see my daughters grow up after my DR. found cancer sitting on my cervix waiting to attack. Tuesday I went into the hospital, had the cancer lesions removed, part of my cervix removed, video shot of my insides to see if anything was affected, had polyps removed and had a D&C which was a must thanks to a recent miscarriage. It was a "fun" few hours (of deep rest under sedation...lol) but in the end I kind of have a new appreciation for my life. My daughters smiles seem so much brighter and the air I breath feels so much cleaner going into my lungs. I hate that it took such a life scare to get me to appreciate everything as much as I should have already but at the same time, how many of us fully appreciate life as we are living it? I am glad to be here, with my family and I am so thankful the last few months are over. For the most part....
Monday, July 18, 2011
Butter / buttermilk making 101
I have always wanted to attempt to make my own butter but always thought I needed a churn. Little did I know that I could easily accomplish this task using nothing but a lidded jar and a little elbow grease. Today I decided to share this adventure with my 4 year old Georgia and it certainly made for a wonderful memory!
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BUTTER & BUTTERMILK: 
What you will need:
*Heavy Cream (or heavy whipping cream, at least a pint)
*Jar with lid
*paper towels
*Covered butter container
*Measuring cup (easy pour) 
Steps:
1. Pour Cream into Jar and place lid on tight.
2. Start shaking container. (will take about 12-15 minutes)
Time lapse:
After 4 minutes...turns into whipped cream.
After 7 minutes...turns into STIFF cream or consistency of whipped butter.
After 9 minutes... Starts to curdle (IE: clump, beginning stage of separation)
After 11 minutes....Separation occurs (IE: Butter separates from milk creating butter and buttermilk.)
After 12 minutes...75% separated.
3. At 75% separation carefully pour buttermilk into the measuring cup. (I have found straining at this point to make the final stage go faster. I use a measuring cup because I like to know how much milk I have.)
4. Place lid back on and shake another 1-2 minutes.
When done it will look like this,
5. Careful drain remaining buttermilk into the measuring cup.
6. Place a few paper towels down and dump out the butter on top of them. LIGHTLY pat top of butter to remove extra moisture.
7. Place butter in storage dish.
8. OPTIONAL: add a pinch of salt & stir.
9. STRAIN buttermilk into a serving dish or storage container of choice. (the milk makes an excellent creamer but is also delicious to drink or use in recipes. I plan on using mine for cornbread and fried chicken...YUM!)
10. Taste your efforts! Mmmmmm.... ;-)
This butter is a delicious and cheaper alternative to butter plus you get buttermilk which is also pretty costly. The butter is creamier and tastier than anything bought i a store and the homemade buttermilk lacks the sour quality of any store brand as it is thinner (but still thick) and sweeter , it is considered "traditional farm" buttermilk. Each pint gives you "about" a pound of butter and about a cup of milk.
Price breakdown: (I would normally buy cream by the quart but they were out, saving me an extra 1.00)
A pint of cream cost me 1.78
Cost of butter per pound is an average of 2.98 + Pint of buttermilk 1.98 (*2 cups)
Savings $ 2.19
NOTE: For an easier method you can use a food processor or blender but it seems to me nothing is more fun than shaking your way to butter with your children! I should also note that you may find whole cream even cheaper if you contact your local dairy farm and buy it straight from the source. You will probably have to buy a bit more than normal but butter freezes well and this buttermilk can be used as regular milk. :-)
ENJOY!
Friday, July 15, 2011
Rewarding? in all honesty....REALLY?
I was reading a blog post from a friend of a friend who is a part time step mom to a severely autistic child. She refers to her life as "mother" of said autistic child as "rewarding". Though I can say that I have learned a lot from my daughter who is blind and autistic I cannot claim to feel rewarded. It is hard to feel rewarded when my day consists of non-stop raging fits triggered by ANYTHING and everything, seeing her injure herself (she bites herself), watching her spin herself in circles until she pukes or praying that today isn't one of those days where she uses her own poo as a paintbrush! All of the moms of autistic kids I know look like they are half a second from pulling their hair out most of the time. But like I said, I have been taught a thing or two, I have been taught patience 10 fold, taught never to take a hug or smile for granted and that I should STAY ALERT to the contents of pull ups. Hearing someone go on and on about "rewards" makes me wonder what they are doing that they never have to deal with any of the things I or all of the other mom's I know have to deal with. At the same time, I feel a little insulted that she sums being an autistic mom up to only the good things which with an autistic child really are few and far between (about 25% of the day). Where is she the other 75% of the time? If you are going to claim to be a real "autistic mom" you shouldn't sugar coat it, we moms need to stick together and give GOOD information, not misleading information. No...rewarding isn't the description I would use to describe my life as an Autistic mom. Stressful, frustrating, thankful that it isn't worse and that my child is one of the "smilers" is more like it. But honestly, I don't feel rewarded about having an Autistic child in particular though I do feel rewarded to have a child in general! In fact, I feel MORE than rewarded by that, I feel down right blessed but I feel the same way about my non autistic children as well. Then again, I never hear her bragging about her other stepchild, I guess having one of the "normal" ones is a little boring to her exciting autistic momdom!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Cancer, motorcycles and hugs..oh my!
It is always so long between blog posts. Things are always so hectic around the house these days and the present moment is no exception. Between raising 3 girls we have recently been given a few trials from the Lord that we are currently working through. I was recently diagnosed with cancer on my cervical wall. I have been going to and from appointments having things done and to get the results from those various things. Thankfully the cancer has not spread and can be removed , that will be happening on the 18th. I will be going in to have a LEEP procedure to remove the cancer and a part of my cervix, at that time I will be having polyps removed from my ovaries which apparently has been the culprit behind crippling pains I have been having the past 2 years. This has been a frightening ordeal but I am thankful to have been able to make it through it with my head still attached to my shoulders.
To top that off Toms father was in a horrible motorcycle accident over past holiday weekend. He was thrown from his motorcycle and ran over by a car. He is now in the hospital fighting the greatest fight of his life with broken bones pretty much head to toe. The Lord was with him however because he had no severe internal injuries, all fractures and breaks. Of course that is severe but it could have been much much worse. He is currently doing better having been moved to his own room out of ICU. He has a long road of surgeries and physical therapy but we are confident he will overcome this trial.
The girls however are all doing fantastic! We were complimented recently from the leader of Miriam's Sunday school class. We had not been to that particular church this year and after a class with Miriam she was amazed and asked us "What have you been doing with Miriam because she was amazing in class, she spoke, played and was very cooporative." I told them we had removed her from school and began teaching her at home. The leader said to us "Well, whatever you are doing at home...DON'T STOP because she is amazing!". I think perhaps having her here with us all the time we don't really notice 100% of the changes in her so it was nice to have our choice validated. But then again, Miriam herself validates it each and every day! Just the other day we brought home a small puppy, Miriam has always been so annoyed by pets but we noticed that she actually enjoyed a small dog a friend of ours had so when the chance to bring home a small dog was presented to us we jumped on it. We let her pet the dog and to our amazement she laughed , giggled and called it "doggy". But when I put it in her lap she calmly pushed the doggy away and said to me "I can't handle this anymore." That was Miriam's way of saying I want to pet the dog but my lap is a bit too close...lol I too am amazed at how much speech and physical activity we have managed to get from her from playing with dogs , to asking to play with her dolls or cars, to asking her sister "Georgia or Sophia wanna play?", to asking if she can take a bath or a shower. She has come such a long way! It is nice getting to see her play with her sisters and actually play with toys. We have been blessed!
Georgia and Sophia are growing like crazy and are such a mess. Georgia still loves to learn and her care for others is truly amazing. I have never seen a child worry so much when someone isn't feeling well. She literally pets all of us when we are sick, she is wonderful! Sophia is Georgia's shadow and Miriam's favorite. There isn't a time I don't see Sophia giving her big sister Miriam hugs, she even climbs into bed with her at night if she gets scared. Sophia is a handful right now as she goes through the terrible 2's, I think perhaps she has combined the 2's and the 3's. But as did Georgia I have faith she will grow out of them even though I do not look forward to the next 2 years!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Miriam update!
I couldn't be happier with the progress our Miriam has been making these days. Besides the fact she is starting to "initiate" play with her sisters, she has been requesting things like playing outside "want to play outside" but her sentences and requests are getting longer. Here is a list of conversations that are not the result of parroting (IE: hearing the answers before hand then responding. She is starting to understand cause and effect in conversations in that when she is asked something she is supposed to answer it. Not only that but she is actually comprehending the questions and connecting them with an answer that is appropriate to the question.
1. What is your name? MY NAME IS MIRIAM!
2. Miriam, where do you live? I LIVE IN TEXAS!
3. Miriam, how old are you? I AM 6 YEARS OLD!
4. Miriam what do you want? I want some cookies or chips.
Besides questions like the ones above where she answered questions she has also been initiating and responding to conversation. For instance...
Miriam: "Mommeeee, I want some pizza!" Me: Miriam, you want some pizza? Then Miriam grabbed my face , found my ears then in my ear she said loudly in a very miss smarty pants tone "GOOD GOD, That's a what I said...PIZZA!"
We have also been noticing that she is comprehending and laughing at Jokes on television and has even been telling her own jokes. For instance she decided to make a play on words which she found so hilarious, at the same time we realized she is noticing similarity between words which leads me to believe a breakthrough beyond breakthroughs is on it's way and despite what others have told us she might end up being able to read. In the car one day she started saying "daddy" over and over again, we couldn't for the life of us figure out why she was doing it until she finally said "daddy like day day a play on dada" When she discovered this new word and found her "day day" answered to it she laughed at the top of her lungs, something she does to this day. She thinks calling Tom "day day" instead of "daddy" absolutely hysterical. Though she does still call him "daddy" she will randomly decide when she had his attention to call him "day day". We find this interesting because Georgia, who is 3 has been going around calling by the names of her favorite cartoon characters, something I found out is normal for a 3 year old. Miriam is pretty much doing the same thing now.
Another thing she can officially do for herself as of this morning is put on her pull up. I have been noticing her pull up coming off during the day and ending up back on backwards or inside out. I wasn't sure if it was her doing it , as she tends to do things when she doesn't notice anyone paying attention, or if it was one of her sisters who used to not only pull of theirs but hers. So one day I opened up the pull up , sat Miriam down and ordered her to "put your pull up by yourself Miriam." Less than a minute later she was sliding it over her butt by herself. This gives me hope that potty training is going to happen sooner than later.
One more interesting thing she has been doing is playing with initiating toy play. She still plays with a lot of them not quite as intended but she IS seeking out toys and playing with them. Her favorite toys as of late are little metal cars and rubber duckies. She actually asks for rubber duckies if she cannot find one herself.
Every little thing Miriam does confirms the fact that homeschooling was the way to go with her. She has become more sociable and active than I ever could have imagined her becoming had she still been in school. If I knew how I would go out and tell everyone whose child is blind and autistic to pull their child out of school right away and to take the home school approach. I wish schools understood what I have found in the past few months, that blind children NEED one on one. I think if more schools understood that fact they would be a lot more supportive and helpful when it came to teaching special needs children at home. I am sure there are other special children who could benefit from the same environment. All I know is that you CANNOT properly teach a child who suffers from blindness and autism in a sighted school. Public education facilities simply do not have the funding or the training to handle such special needs. Not to mention the fact that most special needs educators are inadequately trained in dealing with the blind. I thank the Lord every day that he led me to this decision and made it possible!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Miriam Update
I had to write up a post to update on our little Miriam! Lately she has been speaking so much, cracking jokes and just being active with the world a little bit more than normal.
Lately at meal time instead of saying the basics, things like "more and want ice cream" she has been saying things like "Miriam want some more food (ice cream, etc.) or my favorite part she can distinguish dinner from lunch for instance when she REALLY REALLY enjoy's the meal she says "Miriam wants some more dinner/lunch/breakfast." If she wants a drink she says WHAT she wants in the form of a sentence instead of just "drink or some more", she says "I want some water" or "I wanna drink of water" or "Miriam want some tea, ice tea" (we don't let her have tea, not sure who ever did that she knows what it is!). Sometimes she says I want to play with sisters or Miriam want play dough" She actually PLAYS with toys now, presses buttons on her own, etc... She also drinks from a regular cup now without a straw and can scoop her own food with a spoon or fork but we have to kind of "order" her to do it. Since we had that breakthrough she has been very stubborn about using her utensils. Not sure why, maybe testing boundaries, who knows! We have been noticing her counting more and we are starting to think she is counting words, like counting how many numbers you can count within a word. It has taken me a while to realize what it is she is doing but she will say a word but before she does she counts out loud. Like when she asks for ice tea, before she asks she counts really fast 12345 then shouts ICE TEA. I had Tom say ice tea on the phone while he was at work while I counted 12345 and it was perfect. Miriam thought it was hilarious and she started doing it with me. It is the oddest thing I have ever seen, I know Autistic kids can have an obsession with numbers but this is such a weird "skill" to have that I don't know what to make of it. All I know is that counting out loud is something she likes to do. I used to count with her when she got frustrated and started hurting herself (which she still does), maybe it calms her?
Anyway, this is just some of the latest newbies Miriam is showing off. Everyday is like Christmas when she does or says something new. Every parent looks forward to their kids taking their first steps, walking, talking and developing like normal children. We parents of special needs children have a lifetime of the excitement of the first steps. They aren't always fun to wait for but when the day comes we cherish every second.
Georgia going bye bye!
I have been trying to get Georgia, my 3 year old, to clean her room since 9 o-clock this morning. I finally just told her "Georgia, either get your room clean or you are going straight to bed after dinner" to which she says "NO, I'M NOT CLEANING MY ROOM I RUNNING AWAY!" I was about to argue when I realized how sick of arguing with her I was so I gave in with "Fine, fine, run away, good bye Georgia". To which she says "FINE, I running away! I gunna go get my stuff!" I look at her on the brink of hysterical laughter and say "well, what yah going to take with you?" She says "I gunna take my buzz lightyear and Broby!" She stomps away and I hear from her room "where in the heck is my Dora backpack!" at this point I break down into said hysterical laughter. Georgia marches out of her room with her Broby doll and her Buzz light year (minus a Dora backpack) . I say to her, "well, so long Georgia is was great knowing you!". She goes to the door, puts her hand on the knob, pauses and says "Mommy, can you drive us?" *insert more hysterical laughter here* I say as I laugh "oh no, you're running away you have to do that all on your own!" She stands by the door for about 5 minutes then comes and says to me with her toys in her arms "mommy, I don't think I want to run away n ee mor."