Native American Day and You Won't Believe It!

First off, Happy Native American Day! Today is a day where on the Rez, all the tribal offices are closed and we celebrate just being ourselves. Perhaps with a collective palm to forehead and the exclamation, "What were we thinking?"

The part you won't believe. Yesterday we woke up to this!



It snowed off and on all day. I am just in shock about the whole thing. It isn't even really the middle of October yet. The only good news about this, is that it supposed to be in the 70's by next weekend, so whoo hoo for the return of Autumn.

The snow cleared out the smog and the sky is so, so BLUE. BEHOLD!







I was showing Bald Man the pictures I took for you today, and he asked me where I took them from. I said the Target parking lot whilst I was picking up Little Man's meds. Bald Man responded, "well, you don't have to tell them that." But I decided I would. So you could be envious that even the Target parking lot has a view so incredible. Amazing, huh?







Be sure and click on the pictures for a bigger view of the photograph. They are amazing. Not because I am such an incredible photographer, but because I have a good camera and it is hard to improve on God's beautiful handiwork.

Here are my favorite pictures from this last week.

Isn't my little Squid strong?



June Bug touches the ceiling



The Pea holding her cousin and very proud of herself!




Laughing girls!



Yawning Squid



Whoo hoo I got to go to a blogger meet and greet. On your left is my current blog crush, Kristina from Pulsipher Predilections and the ever funny Jill to your right is from Thou Shalt Not Whine. We had so much fun! If you want a run down of the other bloggers there, I will let you go to Kristina's site, she has the list up.







I made Kristina a little needle felted piggy, since she has a love of all things bacon.



More from the snowy walk:

I like to think this next picture is where summer, fall and winter all met together under a tree, one snowy day.




















At some point this evening, I will post some more pictures up at my photoblogPlaying With Pixels Hope you enjoyed my week, I am rather tired, so I KNOW I did!

A Day Late and a Mini Contest

Nothing horrible happened yesterday, the day just got away from me. Of course part of my business involved going in search of some awesome mountain pics for you!
Fall and snow.
























My family arrived home on Sunday evening. The funeral went fine and the visiting with family was appreciated by everyone. Bald Man got a taste of the new and improved Little Man yesterday morning. Bald Man emerged from the bathroom after showering the boy and asked, "who is that little boy and what did they do with our son?" The foulness is so remarkably reduced that is just startling.

Little Man and the Pea were very happy to see each other.



While my family was gone I had a chance to go to a fiber arts show and found myself under the scrutiny of a very disapproving alpaca! I took a picture and now I will give you the chance to caption this picture

ala I Can Haz Cheezburger!
The winning caption will be saved and displayed prominently on my blog until I decide to move it. The winner will also be given a copy of the captioned picture with full rights to display it also! Think fast, the end of the contest is next Monday or so...

Who Are You, Part Deux With Pictures

Little Man walked in the door this afternoon and announced he was ready to go to the Pizza-Game place. I was told by his aide that he had a wonderful day and she had no idea what was going on that was making him so pleasant, but she liked it! We had a bit of tussle over using the bathroom that made me wonder if the Grumpy Little Man was returning. No fears. The Pizza Game place was a complete success. He accepted boundaries with no back talk. "This is the last time on this game, someone is waiting for their turn" earned me not one little bit of ugliness. I was surprised and gratified. I asked him to stop touching another child's game and to please wait his turn, right here, pointing. And ya know what? He did. Weird.


Concentrating on the game, with his gameface on!







This is a happy boy, playing nicely with the other kids. I kept waiting for someone to come tattle on him, but the other kids just came down the slide laughing.





This is an exhausted boy, collapsed on the ground.




When we went to leave, we had a momentous moment. For you to get why it was such a big deal, you will have to understand that this child never, ever holds my hand willingly. 11 years later, I have to be sure I have a firm grip on him, his wrist for the most part, or wriggly fingers trying to worm their way out of my hand, always. When we left, I grabbed his hand to cross the parking lot like I always do, and he held my hand. I am like a giggly schoolgirl! He held my hand, and he even did that happy swing thing you do with someone else when you are happy. Don't think I am too sappy, but my heart melted right there. (Of course I praised him for holding my hand so nicely) but my heart was just a puddle of goo.


This is my happy boy after we got home.



He asked me not very nicely to turn on the light. He paused, and then, very nicely, said please. He never says please without being told to. He said please. And just now, he said, please read to me, mommy. I think I have
Little Bunny Foo Foo waiting for me. Thank you for celebrating these wonderful moments with me. It means even more that other people think it is amazing too!

Who Are You?

And what have you done with my kid???? Since Wednesday Little Man has been in the BEST mood. Pretty sad when him being happy is weird, but it is! He has been laughing and smiling, and best of all, not nearly as oppositional as usual. Yesterday I said, you need to go use the potty. His response? "okay Mommy." I about fainted. He never agrees and never obeys the first time. Every request is a fight. But not lately. It has nothing to do with everyone being gone, because his good mood started before everyone left. And me, never being one to forgo looking a gift horse in the mouth, was thinking, oh no, what if he is going manic? Before he goes completely manic, he will undergo a period called hypomania. He is actually really cute when he is hypomanic, because he is giggly and fun. BUT, the swing into full mania that follows is pure insanity. No sleeping and talk about irritable. He really hasn't been sleeping all that well, but the day the laughing started, he went to bed at 7:30 which is very early, and 9 last night, which is decent. So if he were going manic, the sleep would be shot to heck. I am left to wonder. Is it the SSRI that Dr. Ruby started him on almost exactly a month ago? Even at 1/2 mg, maybe? She said it could take 3-4 weeks to see improvement. If this is so, (please God, let it be so!) then we might actually have hit on something that improves his mood and the oppositional stuff. Wow. Perhaps it is just the position of the moon and the stars, and will be gone as quickly as it came. Whatever caused it, I am making the most of it. Heaping tons of praise on him, playing, laughing, ENJOYING every second of the current mood of happy. It would be great if it stuck around, but I am not going to make myself crazy and lessen the enjoyment of today by needing tomorrow to be different. Right now, here, it is good and I am grateful. Little Man gets home early today, and he and I have a date at one of the crazy pizza, kid, game places. I am bringing my camera, so hopefully I can update you tonight with some smiling sweetness.

Poo, Glorious, Poo!

For those of you who guessed that my post title Food, Glorious Food from a previous post was from the musical Oliver, you get a gold star! An imaginary one, but a gold star none the less.
Today is a stellar day. We have poo today. Those of you who have hung around these parts for a while, know that our lives revolve around poop. When you have a kid with low motility, well, it just becomes really important. The last few days, it is has been sparse on the poo side here. Enough to make me worry. Enough for me to wonder if we were going to have to go to extreme measures to make "it" happen. But in the wee hours this morning, well, "it" happened. Whew. Close call. Much laundry has ensued, BUT, I would much rather do laundry than some of the other things that were on the list.

And now, I was awarded this:


By a fellow grandmother and all around kick butt blogger herself!
Deb from Postcards from the Edge

I now nominate:
Holly from Walking In My Shoes for being not just a good blogger and amazing mama, but for being a good friend too!

Jill and Kristina for being a couple of the funniest bloggers I know, and for always making me laugh.

Eliza's Mom for being an all around good blogger. Karate and vegetarian and mommy and cat lover and funny, what isn't there to enjoy?
And finally, K because anyone who survives a week with their spouse out of town when they have 5 kids 4 and under and newborns, deserves not just an award, but a medal and maybe a trip to the looney bin spa! But this award is all I have for ya!
Now click on the linky, sign up on the list, and swipe copy the code for the button. Nominate 5 others and don't forget to mention me!

Bald Man and the kids who could get time off work left this morning to go to my father in law's funeral. They will be there through the weekend. It will be just me and Little Man. I am a wee bit worried about doing this all by myself. I sometimes leave Bald Man with the boy, but he NEVER leaves me, so this my first time solo for days in a long, long time. Pray for a safe journey for them.

Fall in the Mountains

The days are sunny and warm, the nights are getting so nice and cool. The leaf changes have crept down the mountains into the valleys. When we lived in California, we never got the luxurious, slow changes of the seasons. In Utah, They are beautiful. Proof:













Impressive huh? From where I sit typing, all I have do is lift my head and I can see pretty beautiful mountain colors right in front of me. I think I am pretty lucky that way.

The following picture is all the food I got from our co-op order! Wow!



Meeko got a shower, well, actually she gets lots of showers, but this time I had someone who could do the squirtbottle while I took some pictures. She turns around and lifts every feather up until she is one soggy birdy!






I tried to take some fallish type pics with the littles, but everyone was grumpy except for Little Man. Now how is that for a switch?






The following wicker chair shoot was semi successful. Got a few good shots and a huge amount of ho hum pics. Ah well.
























There ya go! Something for everyone. Landscapes, animals, food, cute babies, handsome young man. Sorry no nudity this time, I will have to see if I can capture some bum in the near future. Happy Mountain Monday to all of you.

Sabbath Post *Religious Content*

I was showing Pea the video from His Hands from this post. (Don't worry, we stopped the video before we got the graphic stuff, we don't think she is ready for that yet). The Pea commented, "that is Jesus!" I replied, "yes, that is Jesus, sweetie" The Pea then said, "we went to see Him Bam maw. You and me, and mommy and Little Man, and Pop pop and Uncle Oldest son and June Bug and Squid, and all of us!" I asked, "everybody huh? Everybody who loves you?" She nodded her head vigorously while continuing to watch the video intently. Hmm, gave me goose bumps. Makes me wonder if someone is remembering something, don't you?

Food, Glorious Food!

*extra points to anyone who knows what/who I am quoting with my post title.

I am so excited! Tomorrow, I am going to pick up our very first food co-op order. A friend of mine here in Utah told me about and as soon as I got more information, I jumped all over it. For 23$ this month, I get:
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. Pacific Cod fillets (wild caught)
2 lb. chicken thighs
4 5oz. pork chops (bone in)
3 Brigham City peaches
4 Utah pears
4 Utah golden delicious apples
2 Utah vine ripe tomatos
1 sleeved romaine lettuce
1 5lb. bag Russet potatos
2 green bell peppers
1 bunch radishes
1 lb. rice
1 loaf Stoneground Wheat Bread

I am no fool, so I ordered 2 standard shares, so for 46$, I get double that! Plus they had chicken nuggets for 3$ for 2 lbs. We don't usually eat those, too expensive.
But with the food prices they way they are, I need to find places to save some money. Look at that, I saved money AND I got stuff I can't usually afford, like fish, and chicken nuggets. YUM! Organic veggies and fruits. I am feeling all kinds of Molly Provident Living Mormon right now.
This co-op is all over Utah, so if you live here, go to the link, sign up for Oct before the 10th and save money and get more food!
The Community Food Co-op of Utah
Bald Man thanks you for your sympathy and kind words. Funeral is on Thursday, so they will be leaving on Weds to make the drive.

Not Good News

Bald Man's father died this morning. It was unexpected and happened because of a bad fall he had taken the day before. Bald Man and some of the kids are planning on traveling out for the funeral. I will be staying home with Little Man and keeping the home fires burning.

I simply must share this with you. I can't stand not to. I think I have more foreign policy experience than Palin!
Sarah Palin explains her foreign policy experience Her mind is so quick, you might want to have an atlas nearby so you can follow what she is talking about. I know I almost missed it.

Mountain Monday and What the Heck?!?

Oh wow! I think I will let the pictures speak for themselves today.











Last week you had to look kinda hard to see the trees turning color on the mountain, no longer! Some of the leaves on the trees here in valleys are starting to turn color too. I guess it really is the first day of Autumn.






Our toilet hasn't been flushing well the last few days. The maintance guys came out on Friday, and they found this in the toilet:


I guess that could explain the poor performance record as of late. I am inclined to blame Pea, because her mommy lets her play in the bathroom unsupervised. But it is also possible it was Little Man. We have an appointment with the GI doc tomorrow at the Children's hospital by the large and stinky lake of brine flies and brine shrimp. I expect they will have a freak out about Little Man's weight, cause that is how they are, but his ped isn't worried and neither am I. If they have a cow about it, then they can take the cow home and milk it, cause I don't care!

End of the Week Wrap Up

I like to leave you with good things to look at for the weekend. Dr. Ruby has been changing up Little Man's meds and the addition of a VERY small amount of an anti depressant seems to be actually helping. There is definitely a let up on the foulness around here. I took the boy to Build a Bear, we were planning on getting a T-Rex and having the dino undergo tube surgery so he could have a button just like the boy. Well, after getting the dino stuffed, and right as we were to place the dino's button, Little Man turned to me and said, "no tube". I was surprised and asked him why. What happened next was so sad and so sweet at the same time. He grabbed the dino's mouth and asked him if he wanted a tube. He made the Rex shake his head no. Little Man looked at me and said, "I don't like my tube and he doesn't want one." Well what could a mom do, but honor her child's request. Godzilla has no feeding tube.





When Little Man was younger, he was really, really into Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. He ended up with a bunch of the toys and one time when we went to San Francisco, we got to take him to the Wild Things Exhibit that was at the Metreon Mall. It closed about 4 years ago, but while I was there, I HAD to buy Max's wolf suit for the boy. He wore it for the next two years at Halloween. I dug it up recently.

You will need to apply a heavy coat of anti-cute to yourself before viewing the following pictures. You have been warned. Lethal Overdose of Cute Ahead!












She is still too small to wear it for Halloween, but when I pulled it out, she yelled, "it is Max's wolf suit! I want to wear it!" How could I say no? I couldn't. But you benefit! Dang, the kid is so cute, she slaughters me!
And little did I know, that exhibit would close, and that costume is now considered a collector's item. Now it is a family heirloom and I can't wait to pass it on to each grand child in turn, as they grow into being Max for Halloween.

I had Squid for the day. I had fun again. You will have to check out my photoblog for more pics IF you want to see them. But I will give you a preview.





Playing with Pixels as of this posting, I don't have any pics from today up, but maybe tonight or tomorrow. Enjoy your weekend, I know I will, because we have respite tomorrow.*Sigh, after I posted this, our respite person called and said he can't make it. There is a new kids show out called Igor, so I think we shall take Little Man to see it. We have the BEST movie theater ever! One, it is mostly reserved seating, so I can buy our tickets online, choose our seats and then we can arrive after the theater is dark to avoid Little Man meltdowns. Two, it has REAL food available. Bald Man and I LOVE the nachos. Not those fake cheesey nachos. Real nachos, with shredded chicken and real salsa and cheese on them. YUM. They have these awesome trays that go in the cupholders to hold your food and boy, does it rock. The seats have armrests that go up, so if you want to cuddle with your sweetie, you can. So, no respite, but I will get nachos, so tomorrow isn't a total bust.

His Hands

*****Warning!******* Religious content! And an ad for the church at the end. Don't watch if you don't want to weep. Excuse me, I have to wash the dried tears off my glasses.

Here Ya Go!

Just in case you don't think I take enough pictures for you to enjoy, I now have a cure for ya! I am taking a LOT of pictures lately, and I just feel like I can't share all my favorites on my regular, Jo-ish blog, so I started a new blog. I am calling it Playing With Pixels. It is a place for me to explore this new world of photography that has been opened to me with my new camera and to play with some photoshopping. So come on over if you wish. If you don't have anything to leave a comment about, don't worry, I am not looking for comments, mostly I am looking for advice and some constructive criticism. Of course, don't let what I just said stop you from coming on by if you wish and leaving me a comment or two, wouldn't want to discourage anyone from that. But don't feel obligated, I am just having fun. We will see how things roll from here on out. I think with Nablopomo coming up in Nov, I suppose I will have to see if I can post a picture a day... hmmm