On a Posting Flurry!

  It's amazing how much tome I have right now. No school, no work. You would think I would be tackling a hundred different projects around my house. Um...not so much. I am relaxing with my kids, baking and cooking and playing all day long. Each evening I am exhausted but happy.

  All right, let's talk RAD fallout during the summer/vacation/ch-ch-ch-changes. We all know it's going to happen. We just don't always know what form it will take or when it will rear it's ugly head. This summer we had minor deregulation after school  let out. As we got closer and closer to time for me to stop working, my school to end and our big vacation, I did my best to prepare everyone. I told them every day exactly what was going to happen, when, who, how, what, etc etc. Unfortunately the best laid plans can be scuttled by family. Hah! My parents understood my need for controlling our visit. They have spent many hours on the phone talking about the need for consistency, reliability, control of expectations to avoid major meltdowns. Still, our big plans for the amusement park, Levi's Birthday and celebration were tossed on their ear. Just days before e were to leave we were quickly re-arranging and regrouping, but the damage was done. In those last few days one small boy stole the multi-tool off of my keychain and then proceeded to lie about it. We knew it was him. Still, he stuck to the story and became more and more hyper. Then, we found a pair of children's prescription glasses. These were not ours and we had no idea where they came from. We got one story and then another. We checked with neighbors, vacation bible school, and friends. We never found where they came from. We still cannot get the true story out of him, although he does admit he had them.

  During the trip we had a mostly-good time. There were times he worked incredibly hard to be miserable. We just ignored him. Despite himself, he had a lot of fun. Then one night my Mom's cigarette lighter disappeared. My Dad asked the child about it and got the wide eyed, um-um-umming denial to knowing where it was. Miraculously, a short time later, the lighter was back in it's original location, found by the child himself (who proclaimed it was there all the time). Now taking a pair of glasses is bad enough, but knives and lighters are getting into the dangerous category. My parents live in a manufactured home that would ignite like a Roman candle. Very scary!

  Chris and I tried to think of a way to get through to him. Punishment doesn't work, talking to him doesn't work, threats, scare tactics, screaming rants....don't work. So we took him to the fire station and had them talk to him. I went in first and told them the story, including his background. Then I brought him in. The Captain sat him in a big chair in the middle of all the firefighters. They showed him photos of a charred baby's crib and talked about how the brother was curious about a lighter and this is what happened. They point blank told him they have to go into the scenes like this and remove the dead bodies. They talked and shared and got him to talk to them. He looked scared to death, but listened intently. We have talked about it almost daily since then trying to make the lesson stick. I have my fingers crossed!!!

  So this week he finally lost his shiznit completely. He spent an entire morning screaming, hitting, telling me I was mean, he hated it here and he wants to die. I just kept gently leading him back to his bed to vent in a safe spot. Once he was finally done, I held him and told him I knew he loved me and that I loved him. I understood he needed to vent all the negative stuff and that I would help him keep learning how to deal with it in better ways. A little while later, here is where I found him. Totally crashed. He has been so much happier and regulated since that morning. He released the demons....for a while.

Now, on to much nicer thoughts....

I found this recipe in a magazine and thought it looked like fun. If you can't read it, you take 3 Jolly Rancher candies, melt them in the oven and add a sucker stick. I used non-stick foil instead of parchment paper and craft sticks instead of sucker sticks. They melt for 6 min at 275 degrees. 

 Tada! Suckers! 

And a couple of Suckers enjoying suckers! LOL!

 I also made another stab at bread. This is a Victorian Milk Loaf. It looks beautiful, but it is still denser than I wanted. It does look exactly like the photo in the book, though, so that may be the way it is supposed to be. I am going to try a couple more recipes in the next week to see if I can find one I like.