Gonna Be a Long Day...

OK. So I wake up this morning and decide to to the Entrecard Credit Generator from The Germz.com Early. For those not in the know, this is a way to find new blogs, learn something, and (hopefully) get some visits to your blog or site in return. I've found enough things that I want to do a little bit more with that I'm blogging about my experiences today.

So, in no particular order...

On the Prairie Dreams blog, I came across a badge for the "350 Challenge" hosted by Brighter Planet, a sort of "webroots" movement for personal action on the environment. So, I'm adding the 350 Challenge badge to my sidebar. Brighter Planet has teamed with 350.org in order to spread the word about the need for reducing our carbon/CO2 emissions. The 350 site has a very good call to action for larger scale events and movements. I would like to find something that also stresses the contributions invidivduals can make to their own CO2-offset efforts, like using public transportation where available, etc. If you know of a good place for this, please let me know in a comment.

So, what am I going to do about it?

1. There is a woman who works in the same home I do at the same facility. I've gotten rides from her when I'm low on gas and she's gotten rides from me when her DH worked over at his job. I'm going to suggest we ride together more often - for both of us to save money and to help reduce our environmental impact. Sure I'm only one woman ... but every single step plays an important part in getting you where you're going

2. Start a ride-share program at work. There are about 1200-1300 people who work at the residential/training facility for adults with MR/DD along with me, spread over 3 shifts.

3. Once I accomplish these two objectives, I'll come up with more ideas. Anyone want to join me? :)

HELP! NEED IDEAS!

I work at an ICF (intermediate care facility) for adults with MR/DD (mental retardation and developmental disabilities). This week the folks that oversee Medicaid funding are on grounds as part of the certification process, determining if they will provide Medicaid funds for the residents who live there. One of the things they most like to see is what they call "active treatment". Active treatment is defined as "involvement and engagement in all activities of daily living".

This means that after the residents come home from their classes during the day, they don't just sit in the living room or lie down in their beds. There are various programs they need to run ... learning daily living skills or engaging in activities that they enjoy.

The ladies in my home are age 40 and up (the oldest is 73). They all have mild to profound mental retardation. Five of the seven are in wheelchairs. Three of the seven have g-tubes (where they are fed with a tube leading directly into their stomachs).

One of our ladies has a program to "engage" with a mop-like duster. We model the desired behavior and then (ideally) she takes the duster and dusts a bookshelf.

One likes stringing beads to make necklaces and bracelets.

One makes a choice of three beverages to have with her meals. The three drinks are set on an "assisted communication device" that has three corresponding buttons. When she pushes the buttons, a recorded voice states what is on the pad. By pushing the button, she indicates her choice. (Really, she just picks the tallest drink - but that's beside the point).

There are other leisure activities such as puzzles, drawing with crayons, balls, sensory equipment, etc. etc. etc.

We are supposed to have the ladies "actively engaged" on our shift from the time they get home from classes until meal time, then again after meal time until they get their baths ... then again from bath time until the time they retire for the evening.

I'm tired of the same old, same old and am looking for other ideas of things we can do with our ladies. Mobility is obviously an issue, but not necessarily a barrier. Our ladies have cognitive ages of up to 5 years old.

So, I'm asking for y'all's help in coming up with some new ideas for activities! Thanks very much in advance! Y'ALL ROCK!

One for the Girls

You see rows and rows of them by the registers in WalMart. Trading cards for kids ... a la Pokemon and the like. My boys can count battle statistics, weapon strength and the likelihood of so-and-so putting the hurt on the other guy. Now I am all for a well-trained imagination, and believe that children need play time as much as they need chores and education, but I worry about them giving more worth to a fantasy world than to building their own skills for the real world.

So, I was delighted to find a notification in my inbox today (it was actually sent a couple of days ago, I think, but my inbox is out-of-control!) from Kailani over at An Island Life introducing me to The Chatter Chix!

The target market is girls 5-12 years old. There is one card/chix per state and they show having good values (respect, responsibility, etc) in a positive light. There is also the website where girls can leave messages for each other and learn about girls in other states as well as info about the states themselves. Now how cool is that?

In my book, Chatter Chix and An Island Life are both definitely worth your time! I know they were and continue to be worth mine.

Passing Along "Wisdom" to the Next Generation

My daughter, "T" (age 5), is a frequent visitor to my back porch. She is hungry for knowledge and rarely even slows the rate of her questioning the how's and why's of ... just about everything. Here are some things she has learned recently:

1. That pink umbrellas keep things off your head, like sunshine, rain, snow, leaves, bird poop, etc.

2. That trains heading south are going to Somerset and those going north are going to Stanford and that they most likely are doing that because they have to bring "stuff" to Walmart.

3. That they painted our car red to distinguish it from all the other Ford Escorts in the world.

4. That bubbles are classified by size ("wee, not-so-wee and frickin' HUGE") and shape - "snowmen" are two bubbles of different size stuck together.

5. That babies (herself included) are gifts from God.

Smoking it Over....

I don't really feel like posting right now...so I'm going to go out and smoke it over a cup of coffee.

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OK. I went, I smoked, I drank Cinnamon Hazelnut Coffee with Vanilla Chai Spice creamer. DD and I discussed the why's and wherefore's of her new Dora umbrella and all the things umbrellas can keep off your head. DH even joined in the conversation when he told her that it could keep an elephant off her head. (Yeah, I know...but he's a man, and you know how they are.) T's response? "That's CRAZY talk!" Smart girl.

We're mulling over a move to Utah. My mother and brother live there. That's where we met (in person) for the first time. We had DS1 there and got married there. (I bet he's one of the few 5-month olds to have caught the garter at his parents' wedding! *LOL*) The jobs would be better-paying, but then the cost of living is higher too. My maternal uncle has said that if we moved back to SLC, though, that he would put aside money for each of the kids to go to college. And homeschooling law is at least as liberal there as it is here in Kentucky.

As this is my weekend off, we're heading over to DH's Mamaw's house later on for a visit. She only lives about 1/2 hour away. She's 85 (only one year older than my mother) ... and would be the most affected (of the in-laws who live here) if we move away.

Anyway, that's what's on my mind this morning.

Hiding Under My Porch

OK, so it's been like ... two months since I posted last. I thought about my Back Porch a lot, tripping over my guilty thoughts like the vines that twine around the wooden steps leading down to the driveway. I can't really say what has brought me to actually put fingers to keyboard tonight ... but here I am.

I got my last haircut the same way. Having had waistlength hair for years, I thought about cutting it in some more than "just a trim way" for many months. Then one day, I just called, made an appointment and came home to my bug-eyed family (who had been warned of my intentions) swinging my now-detached ponytail and war-whooping. My hair disappeared up to my chin and for weeks I would still flip my head over to mousse it up and wonder why I was nearly falling over (because the rest of the hair-weight wasn't there).

Work has been stressful, more so than usual of late. One of my co-workers had a baby about 3 months ago. Another one just found out she is going to have a little girl a few months down the road. I got tied after having my 3rd child at the age of 41, but still think about having more. So every time someone with whom I work becomes pregnant, I have 'sympathy pains' right along with them. The last month has been pure h-e-double toothpicks: nausea, lower back pain, migraines, sciatica, soaring blood pressure. I've felt on the verge of really losing it on more than one occasion.

Of course, it didn't help that my family (husband and three children) went to Texas to see my MIL and her husband for a week, and I was stuck here in Kentucky because of my job. I don't even ask for time off anymore, because the last two times I've done so, and been approved ... it's been reneged after the paycheck paperwork gets turned in and I'm stuck trying to feed 5 people on $300 less rent, utilities and gas for two weeks. Doesn't work.

The more stressed, bombarded and attacked I feel, the more I withdraw, so that's probably why I haven't been around much of late.

Mama Mondays: Begin

In 46 years, you can rack up a LOT of beginnings.

There's the grandmama of them all...being born, of course. Then comes first smile, first step, first word, first day of school all those childhood milestones.

One first I remember is the first time I saw my first child. My blood pressure had skyrocketed during delivery and they gave me an epidural. My bp reading then tanked; the lowest I saw was 70/40, and hubby says it went even lower. After the delivery, I looked like the Michelin man...but I digress. :) Let's just say I was "out of it", and DS had to be taken to the nursery and put on oxygen for a short while.

As I had been induced, I was not allowed out of bed for 24 hours. I was planning my escape - sneaking out of my room, dragging the IV pole along with me. They must've sensed my frustration and put me in a room near the nurses' station. Drat! Too close to the warden's office to make a break for it.

DH brought me a Polaroid picture of our son. I was worried. He looked tiny, bruised (they had used forceps), and had all sorts of wires and tubes hooked up to his little 5 pound 9 ounce frame. And he had a pronounced conehead. I was desperate to hold him in my arms.

The next day, they wheeled his bassinet into my room (as I still had not been released to get out of bed). I was like...this is so COOL! But then, something happened that scared me. The nurse LEFT THE ROOM!!! And left me alone with this tiny little alien that had inhabited my body for a little over 8 months!

I had read the books and articles, and gathered dozens of opinions (some sought, some not) from friends and relatives), but at that precise moment, I could not remember a shred of it to save my live.

Gingerly, I put my feet on the floor and walked over to the bassinet. Little by little, more of my son appeared. He looked a little better than the day before - less bruised, more rosy. Still had that conehead, though. And I wondered .....

"WHAT DO I DO NOW????"