Japanese China

Wait, can one say "Japanese china?"

We received these gorgeous pieces from my in-laws. They belonged to David's maternal grandmother. Click the pictures to see details.

Do you know what these are called? We sure don't.






Look at the gorgeous colors. They also have raised, bumpy paint all over them.

Blue

We've been in our home for 5 years now. We have a plethora of colors in it. Fifteen, I think, was the last count. We love color! We never got around to doing the kids' bathroom, nor the two guest rooms.

The (cheap) towel rack was coming off the wall; the anchors were loose, so when it finally fell, we removed the hardware and anchors and I filled the holes in with putty/spackle/whatever you call it. It was noticeable and ugly so I said "Since we have the hardware off the wall, let's paint!"

Jacob suggested something in the blue range and I agreed. Yesterday we hit Lowe's and picked out our color; Star Gazer.

The painting was very easy. We already had all the supplies we needed and we decided to do only 1/2 of the bathroom. The other half has mirrors and cabinets that we didn't want to move.

This above is only the first coat. I gave it a second coat and today I will go over the edges with a small artist's brush, to even out what the blue painters tape peeled. Grr.

We purchased a new dual towel rack and will install it later tonight. More pictures to come.

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

I loved this book.


This book is written through the eyes and pen of autistic 15-year old Christopher, our protagonist. It made me laugh, tear up, made me exasperated, made me angry. It was an emotion-palooza. I don't know many autistic children. I know a parent or two with an autistic child, but have never met those children. I've seen the t.v. shows dealing with children with autism and have a read a bit on it. Mr. Haddon does a fantastic job of writing from the mindset of a child with quirks and rules galore; Christopher hates yellow and brown. He won't eat, wear, touch or even likes to look at anything with those colors. He loves prime numbers; the chapters are not numbered 1, 2, 3. They're numbered 2, 3, 7, 11, 13, etc. There are drawings and doodles, showing us Christopher's mindset as he tries to solve the murder of the neighbor's dog and gets a lot more than WE bargained for. He pretty much takes it all in stride.

Mr. Haddon makes you feel all the range of emotions that I am sure parents of these children feel every day, every hour, minute, second. Christopher's parents get angry - when they are at the end of their rope, they scream, throw things, slam things and leave the room. I could only imagine, through Mr. Haddon's writing, how hard, painful and heart wrenching it must be.

I loved Christopher's innocence, and then would whisper "oh brother" when he'd do something that was to me, off the wall. To me. Therein lies the problem. It really is not his problem; it's mine, and all those around him who don't understand him and want to call him a spazz, or a freak, or an idiot.

It's a sad, sweet tale of a boy who sees things through his very own set of strict rules and regulations, set for him by his own slightly different brain.

Happy Father's Day!

To my dad, Victor, my father-in-law Jim and my husband David, I wish you all a happy Father's Day!

Jacob Update

I recently realized I have not posted a "Jacob Update." I posted here and here and here, but April 10 was the last post.

Jacob was out of school for 3.5 weeks. He was recuperating 4.5 weeks (one week was Spring break week.)

He had his surgery, which had an open gaping wound. If you think that is gross, you are correct. After waiting a week for our insurance to finally cough up the approval, we received a wound vac from KCI. The machine is just what it sounds like. A "vacuum cleaner" if you will, for a wound. Placed over the wound with a series of sponges and very-thin adhesive tape, shown below, the machine sucks the drainage from the wound 24/7. On 5 minutes, off 2, if I remember correctly.

The first day of using the machine was scary and filled with drama and crying. It was really bad for him. After a few days of getting used to the suction, the noise and the smell (it did smell! we had canisters to replace every so often), Jake got really used to it. It was a chore and a half to get a complete seal around the odd area of his surgery. My sister Brenda did it ALL, with me either holding a flashlight for more light for her, or handing her things like a nurse with a doctor. The first few days, neither of those two slept much.

This machine....is a wonder! A true, true wonder. I feel like doing a commercial for this company KCI. They were always helpful on the phone, quick to ship items we needed and just spot-on for a mother with her nerves frayed.

His wound shrunk in record time. Reading on-line about people with Jacob's similar wound, and how it took them sometimes up to 18 months to heal, and having Jacob healed in a little over 3 months has me convinced 100% that it was all due to this technology!

We returned the wound vac a bit early (KCI scheduling everything with UPS), mainly because he was missing so much school (and I DREAD to see his report card, but that's another story about procrastination and the youth o' today.) He went back to school, my lovely, wonderfully self-sacrificing sister went back home after over a month in our home and I took over packing and cleaning his wound.

Today, I can say it is 99% healed. Thank you God (and Dr. Albert, and KCI).

Lie-Berry

I love the library. FREE BOOKS to borrow! How can you not love the library? My son volunteers at the library every other Sunday trying to get volunteer hours for a scholarship he's going for. After a few months of this, I decided, heck, why not do it too? I put in my application and about a month later, I got the call.

I'm actually working at the bookstore inside the library. Lots of libraries in Florida have bookstores run by an outside organization. Books are donated, the bookstore staff cleans them, arranges them in the shop and sells them to patrons. The books range from .25 to $3.00; a bargain! The money raised is then funnelled back to the library. The bookstore proceeds paid for the new carpeting when our library got remodeled.

I only work 4 hours every other Sunday (same schedule as my son, who works shelving stuff inside the library itself), the people are nice and I get to organize things, as I am wont to do. What FUN work for a bibliophile! The only problem? I have to STOP myself from buying the books!!

St. Augustine Sights and Signs

We took a fun day trip to St. Augustine to introduce my sister Brenda and her friend Heather to this city. They had never been there before. Although I have a lot of pictures of us, I really enjoyed taking pictures of the signs and sights around me. Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Graduation Gal

Congratulations to my niece Rachel as she graduates high school this week!!

(That cake? Yea, I made it.) :)

Check out my cake blog for more pictures.