Thanksgiving Eve

Well my retro friends, Thanksgiving is nearly here. We were invited to a family get together but we decided that we would rather stay in our home this year. Honestly I don't feel like making my own meal to bring somewhere and I just can't ask someone who is cooking Thanksgiving for a bunch of people to make sure it is gluten free!! Maybe next year I will make my own meal but this year I am quite happy to celebrate at home.

On the Menu

Turkey
Roasted Smashed Baby Red Tomatoes and Garlic Cloves
Corn
Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie (I don't like to toot my own horn but I wrote one great recipe!)
Homemade Whipped Cream

I will be preparing the meal with the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on in the background, Isa should be really into that this year. This year I have so many things to be thankful for, I could never list them all but here are a few.

My husband found a job that he loves, it just dropped out of the sky into his lap.

My daughter FINALLY has a diagnosis after 2 years of searching and is finally getting the intervention she needs

I love the town I live in, I adore it, it makes me happy to go outside and see where I live

I have made a wonderful friend in this town

My dad was able to retire this year and spend time with his wife and I am very very thankful for that!!

What are you thankful for this year?

Update on Dad

Dad came through the surgery just fine. I was able to speak to him for a couple of minutes, whether he will remember it or not I don't know lol, anesthesia tends to do that lol. Thank you everyone for your prayers, I really appreciate them.

Finding Balance

Finding balance is so important as a housewife and I realize that I have lost any semblance of balance in my life, I found this out in the strangest of all places - my online library request queue - it showed me that I am consumed with my daughters recent diagnosis and while that is normal at first I can see that I really need to work on it. I have 6 books waiting and only one of them has anything to do with my interests outside of my daughter. YIKES. I've stopped looking at cook books, I've stopped picking up books that just catch my fancy, even some days I've skipped showers (ahem , okay, *wince* maybe more than one day in a row) because I've been too busy. I've started looking at things I once loved as a chore and I really have got to get my life back or I will be utterly lost when she goes to school in another month or so! I'm trying to think of what I would like to do with my alone time...so many things yet so few...does that make any sense? Probably not but it makes sense in my mind.

For those of you who have alone time while the kids are at school, what do you do? My apartment is quite small so I can have it clean in under an hour...I'm wondering, will I actually force myself to nap? Will I get a new sewing machine and begin working on that again? Maybe one day a week I will volunteer somewhere....well I suppose I need to have a car for that and my hubby has that during the week. I would like to think I would do a whole lot of baking but I know I won't, that has turned into something special that Isa and I do together, I'd be lost without my little sous chef. Maybe I will just write the recipes and wait for her to come home before I try them.

Anyway as I said in the beginning it is all about balance, I'm sure many of you have had things out of kilter or maybe are a bit out of kilter now so you can empathize I'm sure. So please follow me as I try to get my life back together lol.

Prayers for My Dad Please

Hi everyone, tomorrow morning my dad is going to be in surgery for a few hours having some work done on his back. I can't be there and he is halfway across the country. Could you all do be a favor and say some prayers for him?

Are Computers Turning Us Into Wimps??

Are computers turning us into wimps or did our arms always hurt this much to write?

I was writing out my very successful gluten free bagel recipe but it also happened to be quite a long recipe, I honestly had to stop a few times through it to shake out my hands and rest. You know that muscle in your forearm, the one that runs from the outer corner of your elbow in towards your thumb? Yeah, that one, it was killing me!!!

I don't remember writing hurting so much but then again computers weren't relied on so much, at least for me until I was in my early twenties and even then I didn't go on the computer everyday other. Think about it though, with email, cell phones and flat rate long distance on home phones and postage for a letter at nearly 50 cents writing is really becoming extinct. Even in school I hear that kids can type their reports. That was the norm for us in college but not middle school!

Is anyone else out there getting arm pain when they have to pick up just more than their finger tips to get letters on a page?

Running Out of Steam

My friends, I am afraid that I am running out of steam. Isa's diagnosis has thrown me into a new world because with it comes intervention which I am so grateful for but the process is time consuming. I have been tempted many times to write a farewell and shut down my blog. When you don't post everyday people lose interest and the blog I have worked so hard to build will stop growing but at the same time the pressure to write everyday when I can barely keep my wits about me is a lot. So what stops me every time I am about to say goodbye? You . You all do because I have met such wonderful people and I enjoy the comments and the emails more than I think you know. I have put my heart into this blog for two years now and I'm not sure quite how I would feel if it were gone. Would I feel relieved? Relieved that the pressure is off? Or would I feel sad, would an outlet that I didn't realize I was using as a stress relief now be gone? When the confusion dies down will I be sorry that I don't have you all anymore? Yes I think I would be sorry which is why I am asking you to bear with me. You see I have been mommy , wife and housewife for a long time and it was easy to write about my life. Even though I knew something wasn't right with my daughter I did not have anything concrete, no diagnosis and in fact many well meaning people tried to tell me I was wrong so despite my gut feeling life still went on as normal. Now that there is a diagnosis I have stopped being a housewife, yes I still cook and clean but most of my time and energy is spent driving my daughter to occupational therapy, doing occupational therapy at home, calling doctors, getting reports, visiting schools and going to meetings. Mostly I have been special needs mommy. In a month or so though she will be starting a school to get her ready for kindergarten and I will be alone 20 hours a week...oh my gosh....20 hours a week, I haven't been alone for 20 hours all added up since she has been born! I know I will need you all for my teary moments and I also know that I will be able to start balancing out my life again so my energy is once again not only aimed at being a mom but also the retro housewife that I truly am and writing will again come naturally and not forced.

For those new to my blog I do hope you stick around so I can get to know you, it may be slow at first but I promise it will get better, for those long time readers, I know you will stick with me and I love and appreciate each one of you!

Sleep Deprived

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the lack of posts this week, Kev has been out of town and I am exhausted from getting up 4 times a night with Isa. Hopefully I will be back on track next week, other than Thanksgiving of course : )