Today is Monday and I am quite fried from all the Mother’s day activities. I mean really, 8 loads of laundry, do the dishes x 4 and then the freaking Bruins lost!! OH and let’s not forget the card I got…To Our Mother….love Hubs, Allie, Boo and the dog. It was a card for an 80-year old. But at least I got a card, right? Oh and then he worked overtime so it’s all good.

This week’s Listicle? 10 Favorite Characters in Movies or TV..

10. Woody from Toy Story, come on someone who believes so much in a child’s love? That has Mommy all over it.

9. Boston Rob from Survivor. 1st he is from Boston. 2nd everyone tries to emulate his game, and fails.

 

8. Archie Bunker. Wouldn’t you love to be able not put a freaking filter on your lips?

7. Princess Leah: she can shoot a gun, fly the Millenium Falcon, ask a walking carpet to get out of her way and then kiss Han Solo. Enough said.

6. Samantha from 16 candles. Because on my 16th birthday I hosted a party that no one came to, sad but true story.

5. Brad Marchand. The Little Ball of Hate on the Bruins. Only because he reminds me so much of my husband. I just hope he plays better in Game 7.

4. Austin & Allie, due to the joy they bring Boo.

3. Danny Zuko and Sandy from Grease. I remember dancing in the aisle with my mom in the movie theater. I think I was 8. I cannot imagine taking Allie to this movie, and she is 9. Holy crap, Rizzo has a freaking pregnancy scare!

2. Ariel from the Little Mermaid. This is an odd pick, but funny. Allie recently told me my hair looks like testicles, like Ursula’s hair. She meant TENTACLES but still she got me to the hair dresser!

1. Indio Montoya from the Princess Bride. I hope someday Allie or Boo says to someone, my name is “Indio Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die”. Or better yet… you said my mom’s hair looks like testicles, prepare to fix it!

This post was brought to you by Monday Listicles. The word you might be using but not know what it means…

 

Who are your favorite TV or Movie Characters?

Life is funny. Just yesterday I contributed to Kristi’s Our Land Series and wrote about how some one (in my mind) was judging Boo and therefore my mommy skills. That same day I was driving Boo to an appointment at Children’s and well, you know how Boston traffic can be. If you don’t know picture a 4-lane highway at a dead stop with a blinking sign telling you that it is only going to take you 37 minutes to go 5 miles. And your exit is another 7 miles past that.

As we are sitting in this traffic Boo starts screaming “HI” at the top of her lungs and waving at the car next to us. Here is where karma kicks my ass. He looked like he was in a gang.

So there I am judging, ON THE SAME DAY as I write a post about judging! Now in my limited defense, the car was pounding rap music so loud my feet felt the vibration. He was wearing the Mr. T starter kit of gold chains and earrings and had his head covered in a handkerchief.

After about (what felt like) 5 minutes of Boo calling “HI” this man finally cracked and waved at her. Then he smiled. And he had gold teeth to match his gold chains. The minute he noticed me noticing he quickly started scowling and changed lanes.

Yeah, I judged and still think he probably was in a gang. But it just goes to show you the power of my Boo. Imagine if we used her in crime control?

Wow. Kristi over at Finding Ninee decided to use one of my posts in her Our Land Series.

Thanks Kristi!
http://www.findingninee.com/dear-you/

Sometimes people’s kindness just makes me speechless. The other night, after a very long day for Boo, I had to drop something off to a friend of mine that works at a golf course. As we were catching up, Boo was just resting her head on my shoulder.

A kind man who works in the pro-shop approached her and held out a pink golf ball. Boo actually took the ball from the man, said ‘thank you’ in her quietest voice and rested her head back down.

This is huge for so many reasons. Boo is very shy, that she even met this man’s eyes and took something from him is amazing. But that she also said thank you? Oh my…

We left, she never let go of the ball. The next morning, it was the first thing she grabbed after her IPAD.

She has not let go of it. She has held it in the supermarket, the bank, Church and while playing. I had to wrest it from her hands before bedtime.

So I would like to take a moment, to say thank you. Thank you to this very kind gentleman who took time out of his day to make a little girl’s day and her momma’s heart overflow.

I have no freaking idea. But I asked Kristi who of course had the answer….according to the world of Kristi According to Wikipedia, a listicle is a list that has more guts.  Specifically “a short-form of writing that uses a list as its thematic structure, but is fleshed out with sufficient verbiage to be published as an article.”

What the heck does that mean, exactly? No idea. I mean how can that be a word if spellcheck doesn’t recognize it? But I have wine so I figured I would hop on the listicle train because this week’s cracked me up.

Ten things that you love that cost you nothing, yet….

Okay, the “yet” is probably not part of the listicle. But since I love bending the rules here I go!

1. Kissing your children good night. Sure, they are cute now, but if they are anything like my Allie they will probably try to charge us soon. This is the girl that asked for an allowance and then refused, refused I tell you, to do ANYTHING if she wasn’t paid. Now I don’t want to raise a future hooker because you know it isn’t like Pretty Woman. So I am never going to go for paying for kisses. But I know how her brain works and will not put anything past her.

2. Walking the dog. Our town just passed a pay-as-you-throw deal. Not only do we have to pay for a dump sticker and on top of that per bag of trash you just know they are going to start changing extra for disposal of dog poop.

3. Showering. Oh wait, that is already taken.  I mean we already have a water tax. So I guess we already pay to be clean. Except I have a well, no water tax right? But how much do you want to bet that soon our town will say you have to pay extra NOT to use their water. And since I love to shower…. 

4. Breathing clean air. Think about it, about 20 years ago some guy in Maine said hey don’t drink your water it isn’t as clean as Poland Springs….

5. Facebook. Let’s face it. I am a Facebook addict. I love Words with Friends, I like looking at people’s photos and saying what the heck were they thinking? I think it is all a scam. Kind of like the water deal. Zuckerberg reeled us in and in the future he is going to make us pay for addiction. Think of the black-mail he has with all those photos we put online. Even worse, all those drunken status updates.

6. Public education. Why do I love public education? Well, it makes sure my children are some place, anyplace else other than at home. I see a time coming when the seniors in the town say they are no longer using their retirement money to pay for my child’s education (and really, who can blame them). Leaving parents to pay for their own child’s education.

7. Blogging. I do not advertise. Why? Well, haven’t been asked! But also my blog is more of a look into our lives. It is not an advice or “theme” blog. I have some favorite blogs though that do advertise. Some A LOT more than others. I worry about the day when you cannot just write or read. Instead if I want to see what is going on in your life I am going to have to pay for the privilege. Oh and Dana as a fellow non-advertiser, if you ever charge me to read your blog I’m going to be very upset!

8. Friendship. At this point my friends are my therapist. I imagine them charging me one day to listen to my troubles.

9. Marriage. I know what you are thinking how can they tax marriage? But if the people who are against marriage for everyone start to think to themselves, hey wait if everyone can get married and we charge them extra then people won’t “live in sin”….I see marriage equality for everyone!

10. Love. See #1 above. Where do you think Allie gets her mercenary tendencies from? If Hubs ever gets a clue that charging for love does not make him a gigolo…..
 

This has been a Monday Listicle event brought to you by the Fab Northwest Mommy at the Good Life. Go check her out and tell me what you would love that doesn’t cost you anything. And if you want to be a rebel, tell me what doesn’t cost you money YET!!

It is Friday and time to take 5 minutes out of the day to just write. Lisa-Jo Baker’s prompt this week is: BRAVE

Ready, set, go!

When I think of Brave I think of my husband. He is either the bravest or most foolish person I know. Seriously, think about it for a moment. He runs INTO a burning building not out of it. He has been electrocuted, dropped 2 stories during a training exercise and yet he still goes back for more.

And trust me, the pay isn’t all that worth it.

He goes into work all hours of the night. I swear I don’t even hear him leave or come home anymore. Allie knows that if we have plans Daddy may or may not be joining us. I cannot tell you how often I have finished a meal by myself.

I know he would say differently, but his love for the job comes before all else. If he had to choose between his family and the fire service he would OF COURSE choose us. But we love him enough not to make him decide. He has been on the fire department since high school and you don’t change what you love about some one.

But he lives, lives, I tell you for the fire service. He joins every tech team they make up. He is on the confined space team. You know if a building collapses? He is the one that will be in there searching for survivors.

Wildfires? Or as we call them here, brush fires. He is on that team too. That is his ‘favorite’ fire. And how weird is that, to have a favorite kind of fire?

Drowning, boat in distress need the dive team? He will probalby be on the call.

I did ask him once if he was ever scared. He said, no because if he ever was he couldn’t do his job.
So again that makes him either very brave or very foolish.


END

What makes you brave?

It is time for my favorite day of the week, FRIDAY! And better yet, let’s finish a sentence. This week’s starter…

If I were stuck on an island, I would like to have….the perfect body. I know, very conceited, right? But think about it if you are going to be stuck here:

Google images, of course

Then the last think I would want to look at would be my cellulite, wrinkles, freckles, grey hair and well…fat. Even my own. Talk about body issues. But seriously, if you were stuck on an island wouldn’t you rather look something like this:

Doesn’t this look peaceful? Thanks to Google images

Or better yet, like this!

See those abs! Google images

By the way, the starter did NOT say you were on a deserted island. So there would definitely be drinks!  But my island would not have any of this!

Google Images

Oh and just because I find it funny. If you Google annoying people on beach you get a gazillion photos of Snooki. Seriously, try it out!! Then come back and visit the links below and tell me what you would like on your island!


What about you, what would you like to have with you if you were stuck on an island? Be sure to link up at:

I wrote before on how to tell if you are a ‘mom‘. But when you have a child with a disability or special needs being a mom is slightly, well, different. For example…

We know intimate details of our child’s therapists lives (weddings, fights with the husband, why they hate the color pink or why the mother-in-law isn’t allowed to visit).

When we wake up on a Monday morning and realize it is an Early Intervention day we can stuff our closets clean our house in 3.9 seconds.

We are on a first-name basis with our insurance company representative.

We know that when we are told that the doctor is with another patient, he is really reading the cliff notes version of our child’s medical record. It may take up to an hour.

We know when the ‘good’ time is to visit the ER.

We know that when another parent says “I don’t know how you do it” they really mean “Thank God that’s not me”. More importantly, we are okay with you thinking that because at one time we thought the same thing.

We don’t panic over a temperature, but we have our pediatrician’s cell phone number on speed dial. You know, just in case.

We look forward to our child’s PT/OT/SPT therapy because we have to leave the house.

We know what PT/OT/SPT/IEP stand for.

When our pediatrician tells us he is going on vacation we think that since our visits probably paid for his retirement, his children’s college education and his wife’s new jewelry we probably should be invited to the family ski house.

We also think that our child’s visits just paid for the new wing at the Rehab center.

What about you, how are you different as a ‘special’ mom?



And if you haven’t had a chance, would you take a moment to visit Babble and “like” my nomination for Best of the Blogs? It is super simple. Just visit the page and click: like on Facebook or Tweet or Google+ (G+ can be multiple times, Facebook just once per person dang it!)

http://www.babble.com/mom/a-letter-to-new-special-moms/

I am really disturbed. Ellen from Love that Max wrote a wonderful article about a beautiful boy (and another girl) whose photos were pirated off the internet and used in a derogatory manner. I am not going to post the photos here. But the people who use anyones photo in a disgusting manner deserves the 7th level of Hell.

I am disgusted, quite frankly. And scared.

I put pictures of my girls on my Facebook, on my fundraising page for Children’s Hospital. I put them here on this blog and e-mail them to friends.

Now I am second-guessing myself. I started putting text on the photos in an attempt to protect the girls. I use psuedonyms (for everyone one but myself, dummy that I am) to protect everyone I write about. But I am aware that with photo shop anything is possible.

I started blogging as a means of finding a community where I could laugh, learn from and lean on. In recent weeks bloggers that I follow, for my daily dose of comfort, have posted that they may step away, because the people who like to cause trouble have become too much. They have managed to take the joy out of our lives.

So what do we do?

Do we ‘hide’ from the jerks in the world? Do we blog differently? Do we stop putting photos out there for all to see?

If we say no to the above, than how to we fight back? How to we ensure our children’s safety and our sanity?

I’m not sure what the answer to the question should be. But I am also not ready to hide.

Boo started talking almost six-months ago. It was a hard-fought war, she started speech therapy way before she was two years old. Boo started with sign, PECS was beyond ineffective and the IPAD never worked for speech (but ask her to find Austin & Allie on it and look how fast she can navigate).

Boo started with a few words (Allie was her first). And, sadly, I didn’t notice her progress. I mean I know she is doing great and she is saying a lot more words without always needing a translater. But it wasn’t until last week when we went to neurology and Boo said a FOUR WORD PHRASE. Yes, it was “I want cookie please”. But it was four words, strung together, in a freaking phrase with intention! (Proud momma moment)

Of course her phrases are memorized (I want, help me, give me) but she is beginning to add more words rather than signs/gestures. This beautiful girl of mine who a year ago only had a handful of words has almost 100 now.

This is of course, thanks to her awesome school program and therapists. I am just so grateful for them never giving up on our girl.

Because Boo said a 4-word phrase and she rocks!