Wow Vitamin D Ok I Get It

I woke up this morning after 8 solid hours of sleep, and felt like I weighed 600 pounds. I hit snooze three times. I sat up finally, overwhelmed with TIRED, wondering when I could get back into bed for a nap.

I wandered downstairs to brew a cup of ambition (thank you Dolly Parton for the metaphor) and every step down the stairs was like being made of lead. Step. Wait. Step. Wait. My brain is screaming JUST GO OMG STOP BEING SO SLOW and my body is responding NO.

I brew a pot, take a few drinks and feel the tingle of caffeinated energy take hold. I can actually feel the clouds parting around my brain, and as I'm getting the cats water dish it hits me.

Vitamin D.

I'm out. I've been out like three days.

Vitamin D is, if you don't recall, the ultimate super drug in my world. I apparently store it much at all and the result is mind numbing fatigue and aches.

I'm at the end of one pot of coffee, a small pot, and am getting ready to hit the door to get to work. I'll make it.

But Oh MY GOD I need some vitamin D.

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Wow Vitamin D Ok I Get It

I woke up this morning after 8 solid hours of sleep, and felt like I weighed 600 pounds. I hit snooze three times. I sat up finally, overwhelmed with TIRED, wondering when I could get back into bed for a nap.

I wandered downstairs to brew a cup of ambition (thank you Dolly Parton for the metaphor) and every step down the stairs was like being made of lead. Step. Wait. Step. Wait. My brain is screaming JUST GO OMG STOP BEING SO SLOW and my body is responding NO.

I brew a pot, take a few drinks and feel the tingle of caffeinated energy take hold. I can actually feel the clouds parting around my brain, and as I'm getting the cats water dish it hits me.

Vitamin D.

I'm out. I've been out like three days.

Vitamin D is, if you don't recall, the ultimate super drug in my world. I apparently store it much at all and the result is mind numbing fatigue and aches.

I'm at the end of one pot of coffee, a small pot, and am getting ready to hit the door to get to work. I'll make it.

But Oh MY GOD I need some vitamin D.

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Boy Scout Camping

The oldest boy went on his first Boy Scout overnight to kick off Memorial Day weekend. He practiced making eggs for weeks, on the weekends, so that he could make them over the fire. The trip was cancelled a week ago, because of very bad weather, and I think I never saw such a sad boy. To say he was EXCITED to go might be an understatement. 

I could barely get him to stop, turn around, and let me take his picture. He's saying "Can I go?" through clenched teeth right here. 

The other boys had found a dead snake you see. He couldn't miss that.

So off he went. Away from me, and into the great outdoors, even if just for the night. I hear there were s'mores and playing with dead snakes and no air mattresses. 

Sounds like ten year old boy heaven.

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Boy Scout Camping

The oldest boy went on his first Boy Scout overnight to kick off Memorial Day weekend. He practiced making eggs for weeks, on the weekends, so that he could make them over the fire. The trip was cancelled a week ago, because of very bad weather, and I think I never saw such a sad boy. To say he was EXCITED to go might be an understatement. 

I could barely get him to stop, turn around, and let me take his picture. He's saying "Can I go?" through clenched teeth right here. 

The other boys had found a dead snake you see. He couldn't miss that.

So off he went. Away from me, and into the great outdoors, even if just for the night. I hear there were s'mores and playing with dead snakes and no air mattresses. 

Sounds like ten year old boy heaven.

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The Renaissance And Meats Of Various Sorts

Our annual Mother's Day tradition is to go to the Georgia Renaissance Festival which is awesome and fun, and completely really NOT about the Renaissance and more about, oh hell I don't even know. Costumes, and fairy magic? We went late this year, but better late than never because I LOVE the Renn Faire.

The Centurion who popped by the meat vendor is probably proof that being period relevant isn't a requirement. Which is ok with me. Rather, it's sort of like multiple worlds and universes collide outdoors and there are shops and food and dancing and fun, so who cares?

There are also large hunks of meat, we had the spicy and the teriyaki - the Renaissance was known for it's love of teriyaki obviously. It was pretty damn good but I think my teeth hurt from chewing it.

It's usually about as hot as the surface of the sun when we go, so the frozen lemonade is the thing that keeps us from melting and praying for death. This year though it was in the low 80s with a breeze, a really perfect temperature for being outside and just putzing about.

There are lots of rides and activities for the kids though, which is mainly why we go. They love it, I honestly don't think Charlie had such a happy day in months. He laughed and giggled all day, and the others were even happier than that. 

We always choose something weird and random to eat, this year we had the chocolate covered bacon which is served cold - this seems odd to me but it was really good regardless.

I think chocolate sauce could be served as BACON DIPPING SAUCE like caramel is APPLE DIPPING SAUCE. Indulge your inner and outer fattie, I say.

We have a family tradition that to end our day we ALWAYS take a photo here in this spot. Yes - at the portopotties. It just started out that way and now it's a think. EVERY year. It makes me laugh every single time. This year we got a pirate to take our picture.

And to my amusement, the one who had a ride ....was the one who conked out first.

It's tiring, being the baby.

It was possibly, all things considered, one of my favorite Mother's day celebrations ever, even if it was late.

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The Renaissance And Meats Of Various Sorts

Our annual Mother's Day tradition is to go to the Georgia Renaissance Festival which is awesome and fun, and completely really NOT about the Renaissance and more about, oh hell I don't even know. Costumes, and fairy magic? We went late this year, but better late than never because I LOVE the Renn Faire.

The Centurion who popped by the meat vendor is probably proof that being period relevant isn't a requirement. Which is ok with me. Rather, it's sort of like multiple worlds and universes collide outdoors and there are shops and food and dancing and fun, so who cares?

There are also large hunks of meat, we had the spicy and the teriyaki - the Renaissance was known for it's love of teriyaki obviously. It was pretty damn good but I think my teeth hurt from chewing it.

It's usually about as hot as the surface of the sun when we go, so the frozen lemonade is the thing that keeps us from melting and praying for death. This year though it was in the low 80s with a breeze, a really perfect temperature for being outside and just putzing about.

There are lots of rides and activities for the kids though, which is mainly why we go. They love it, I honestly don't think Charlie had such a happy day in months. He laughed and giggled all day, and the others were even happier than that. 

We always choose something weird and random to eat, this year we had the chocolate covered bacon which is served cold - this seems odd to me but it was really good regardless.

I think chocolate sauce could be served as BACON DIPPING SAUCE like caramel is APPLE DIPPING SAUCE. Indulge your inner and outer fattie, I say.

We have a family tradition that to end our day we ALWAYS take a photo here in this spot. Yes - at the portopotties. It just started out that way and now it's a think. EVERY year. It makes me laugh every single time. This year we got a pirate to take our picture.

And to my amusement, the one who had a ride ....was the one who conked out first.

It's tiring, being the baby.

It was possibly, all things considered, one of my favorite Mother's day celebrations ever, even if it was late.

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Last Day Of School Makes Him Rattle

My mom calls it that, rattling. When you're babbling on and on and on without concern for other people's input or making the conversation actually two way. My ten year old, yesterday all the way to school, was rattling.

The subject? Warcraft. The released a new patch with lots of updates and changes. So our conversation on the way to school went like this.

Lou: Mom in the new release XYZ happens.

Me: Yeah I read the release notes.

Lou: AND OMG I WENT TO Orgrimmar and you won't believe what is happening outside the gates etc etc etc.

Me: Yeah I know, I read the release notes.

Lou: And so also they changed these abilities for your shaman and now blah blah blah hibbety dippety etc etc.

Me: Yeah I know, I read the release notes.

Him: OHHH and did you know that they created a new LEVEL 90 battleground?

Me: You mean, the one I read about in the release notes?

I dunno. He might've been excited about the last day of school.

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Last Day Of School Makes Him Rattle

My mom calls it that, rattling. When you're babbling on and on and on without concern for other people's input or making the conversation actually two way. My ten year old, yesterday all the way to school, was rattling.

The subject? Warcraft. The released a new patch with lots of updates and changes. So our conversation on the way to school went like this.

Lou: Mom in the new release XYZ happens.

Me: Yeah I read the release notes.

Lou: AND OMG I WENT TO Orgrimmar and you won't believe what is happening outside the gates etc etc etc.

Me: Yeah I know, I read the release notes.

Lou: And so also they changed these abilities for your shaman and now blah blah blah hibbety dippety etc etc.

Me: Yeah I know, I read the release notes.

Him: OHHH and did you know that they created a new LEVEL 90 battleground?

Me: You mean, the one I read about in the release notes?

I dunno. He might've been excited about the last day of school.

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Don't Get FOMO

So I heard there is a new thing caused by our nonstop digital connectivity called FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out. Apparently, watching others through blogs, and twitter, and facebook, and pnterest, and instagram, and flickr, and so on and so on and so on has lead to this idea that we are failing because LOOK AT ALL THE AMAZING THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING WHILE YOU SIT THERE DRINKING COFFEE WORSHIPPING THE SHINY BOX.

At first I laughed but then I realized, that's probably legit. After all, I show you the pic of happy times at the museum, not the pic of me crouched into a bathroom stall cleaning the diapers of two nine year olds who pooped halfway through the Andy Warhol exhibit.

Basically, it's the digital version of Keeping Up With The Jones's.

Yesterday we had a ridiculous day on tap. Little girl soccer, big boy soccer, then big boy off to Boy Scout Camping overnight. That's a busy day for a family of six with two Special little guys in tow. But then, it rained overnight. And the camping trip was postponed. Suddenly I had a distraught ten year old on my hands. He'd practiced making eggs on the weekend for over three weeks so that he could cook them over the fire. To say he was devastated, would be quite the understatement. 

He was then less than exuberant about having to go play soccer. They had him play goalie. Last year goalie was his nemesis position, but this year he's done a great job at it. Until yesterday - when a really aggressive opponent plus being in a really sad mood caused him to allow FIVE GOALS in one quarter. OMG. The team still won, but the boy was just completely defeated by life  

It was determined that one of us should take him out, just go OUT and do stuff just with him. I volunteered, I think I choose to stay home too much, just because the hubby is always here but I kinda just wanted to be the one to take him elsewhere - to be the one who cheers him up.

We went to YoChill and he got to pick out his own yogurt and toppings. We sat outside and watched the gathering storm coming from the west and talked about WoW. I told him we could do whatever he wanted (within reason) and looked up movies but we'd really missed them all so he suggested we go to the nearby mall since we had the luxury of being without the little ones. 

We stopped off at the Slingshot Speedway which is the worlds largest permanent slot car race track and for like five bucks you can rent and race a car, so I had a seat and let him race with the other kids. This is one of his favorite things to do at this mall, and something we don't normally do because the twins get cranky or impatient. 

We also went to the AirSoft shooting range and it was the stuff that makes a mom who doesn't much like guns have a heart attack. I had to say no because it was not only too expensive for a casual day out, you're supposed to wear layers of clothes because they are shooting plastic bb's at one another. In the masks and clothes, they all looked like freaking terrorists. It was unnerving. 

Instead of that we went to the Lego store which does not make me feel nervous and he had always wanted to make custom mini-figures so we had a go at that.

I kinda love the one in the turban and the lei of flowers. 

We wandered down to Bass Pro Shop which makes me want to go camping so bad I can't stand it every time I go there. It makes camping out look easy and magical when in fact it's hard and dirty and hot and sweaty. But, I kinda love that place and we hadn't been in forever. It just so happened that we got there at feeding time for the big tank.

After a while the water begins to sparkle with the scales of fish being eaten by the bigger fish - the scales apparently popping off and floating around the tank as the feeder fish met their grisly end. Louis has my sense of humor as he was singing "The circle of life" at one point, causing me chuckle a bit.

It was grisly and we probably loitered here the longest watching the gars lure the little fish by being very still. 

You shouldn't have FOMO though. It was a busy long day, and it wore me out. But I was determined to give a little guy whose special day got ruined, a good day. He doesn't GET a lot of JUST LOU days. His world is dominated by concessions and "maybe next time" responses. 

If you do get FOMO over our day though, I have the cure.

Turn off your computer. 

Leave the house.

The end.

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Don't Get FOMO

So I heard there is a new thing caused by our nonstop digital connectivity called FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out. Apparently, watching others through blogs, and twitter, and facebook, and pnterest, and instagram, and flickr, and so on and so on and so on has lead to this idea that we are failing because LOOK AT ALL THE AMAZING THINGS THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE DOING WHILE YOU SIT THERE DRINKING COFFEE WORSHIPPING THE SHINY BOX.

At first I laughed but then I realized, that's probably legit. After all, I show you the pic of happy times at the museum, not the pic of me crouched into a bathroom stall cleaning the diapers of two nine year olds who pooped halfway through the Andy Warhol exhibit.

Basically, it's the digital version of Keeping Up With The Jones's.

Yesterday we had a ridiculous day on tap. Little girl soccer, big boy soccer, then big boy off to Boy Scout Camping overnight. That's a busy day for a family of six with two Special little guys in tow. But then, it rained overnight. And the camping trip was postponed. Suddenly I had a distraught ten year old on my hands. He'd practiced making eggs on the weekend for over three weeks so that he could cook them over the fire. To say he was devastated, would be quite the understatement. 

He was then less than exuberant about having to go play soccer. They had him play goalie. Last year goalie was his nemesis position, but this year he's done a great job at it. Until yesterday - when a really aggressive opponent plus being in a really sad mood caused him to allow FIVE GOALS in one quarter. OMG. The team still won, but the boy was just completely defeated by life  

It was determined that one of us should take him out, just go OUT and do stuff just with him. I volunteered, I think I choose to stay home too much, just because the hubby is always here but I kinda just wanted to be the one to take him elsewhere - to be the one who cheers him up.

We went to YoChill and he got to pick out his own yogurt and toppings. We sat outside and watched the gathering storm coming from the west and talked about WoW. I told him we could do whatever he wanted (within reason) and looked up movies but we'd really missed them all so he suggested we go to the nearby mall since we had the luxury of being without the little ones. 

We stopped off at the Slingshot Speedway which is the worlds largest permanent slot car race track and for like five bucks you can rent and race a car, so I had a seat and let him race with the other kids. This is one of his favorite things to do at this mall, and something we don't normally do because the twins get cranky or impatient. 

We also went to the AirSoft shooting range and it was the stuff that makes a mom who doesn't much like guns have a heart attack. I had to say no because it was not only too expensive for a casual day out, you're supposed to wear layers of clothes because they are shooting plastic bb's at one another. In the masks and clothes, they all looked like freaking terrorists. It was unnerving. 

Instead of that we went to the Lego store which does not make me feel nervous and he had always wanted to make custom mini-figures so we had a go at that.

I kinda love the one in the turban and the lei of flowers. 

We wandered down to Bass Pro Shop which makes me want to go camping so bad I can't stand it every time I go there. It makes camping out look easy and magical when in fact it's hard and dirty and hot and sweaty. But, I kinda love that place and we hadn't been in forever. It just so happened that we got there at feeding time for the big tank.

After a while the water begins to sparkle with the scales of fish being eaten by the bigger fish - the scales apparently popping off and floating around the tank as the feeder fish met their grisly end. Louis has my sense of humor as he was singing "The circle of life" at one point, causing me chuckle a bit.

It was grisly and we probably loitered here the longest watching the gars lure the little fish by being very still. 

You shouldn't have FOMO though. It was a busy long day, and it wore me out. But I was determined to give a little guy whose special day got ruined, a good day. He doesn't GET a lot of JUST LOU days. His world is dominated by concessions and "maybe next time" responses. 

If you do get FOMO over our day though, I have the cure.

Turn off your computer. 

Leave the house.

The end.

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Adventure Awaits

We've had passes to the Atlanta History Center for almost a year and since there were a few things we hadn't managed to do yet, we decided it was a perfect day on Saturday to scoot down to Buckhead to check it out and see what we hadn't experienced yet.

There is a beautiful mansion on the property called the SWAN HOUSE that we got to tour, we couldn't take pics inside so I grabbed them off the Atlanta History Center's Flickr acct and made a collage. It was a fairly impressive house, the family apparently made a lot of money off of cotton and a new company called Coca cola.

I have to admit, it was pretty impressive. Not the sort of place you lounge about in your tee shirt and panties while surfing the web but hey, you gotta make sacrifices to get to the top I guess.

Near the house is a rock quarry garden that my oldest boy has always wanted to explore. How could we let the passes expire without climbing down to check it out?

So down we went. It looked really steep from above but wasn't at all. It was a really cool nature walk once we were down there.

There were bullfrogs singing at us that it took us a while to find. 

I have do admit I wasn't all that keen on the Atlanta History Center when we first started going but it's really amazing and full of so much to learn, every time we went I really enjoyed it. I will miss belonging but it's one of those places that once you've seen the permanent exhibits, you've SEEN it. There is usually just one travelling exhibition and eh, there are so many  museums in Atlanta. It's time to move on to another one.

I am really glad we made this one last trip on a warm spring day.

I can't wait to see where we end up with annual passes to this year. 

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Adventure Awaits

We've had passes to the Atlanta History Center for almost a year and since there were a few things we hadn't managed to do yet, we decided it was a perfect day on Saturday to scoot down to Buckhead to check it out and see what we hadn't experienced yet.

There is a beautiful mansion on the property called the SWAN HOUSE that we got to tour, we couldn't take pics inside so I grabbed them off the Atlanta History Center's Flickr acct and made a collage. It was a fairly impressive house, the family apparently made a lot of money off of cotton and a new company called Coca cola.

I have to admit, it was pretty impressive. Not the sort of place you lounge about in your tee shirt and panties while surfing the web but hey, you gotta make sacrifices to get to the top I guess.

Near the house is a rock quarry garden that my oldest boy has always wanted to explore. How could we let the passes expire without climbing down to check it out?

So down we went. It looked really steep from above but wasn't at all. It was a really cool nature walk once we were down there.

There were bullfrogs singing at us that it took us a while to find. 

I have do admit I wasn't all that keen on the Atlanta History Center when we first started going but it's really amazing and full of so much to learn, every time we went I really enjoyed it. I will miss belonging but it's one of those places that once you've seen the permanent exhibits, you've SEEN it. There is usually just one travelling exhibition and eh, there are so many  museums in Atlanta. It's time to move on to another one.

I am really glad we made this one last trip on a warm spring day.

I can't wait to see where we end up with annual passes to this year. 

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Autism for Breakfast

I know, two in one day, I'm on a roll. But I shot a little video I wanted to share.

Mornings around here are completely unpredictable. The boys who wake me up sobbing and screaming for food, will often act like I've offered them a cat turd when I suggest that we eat.

Sometimes it's worse than that.

This morning, I give a B because the moment I walked away, they did come to the table to eat. But this is pretty par for the course at my house, I prepare breakfast and invite them to come sit down.

Then, this happens.

That's actually very little resistance.

There are even some words thrown into those tantrums if you listen. Well placed rational words.

Autism is so annoying.


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Autism for Breakfast

I know, two in one day, I'm on a roll. But I shot a little video I wanted to share.

Mornings around here are completely unpredictable. The boys who wake me up sobbing and screaming for food, will often act like I've offered them a cat turd when I suggest that we eat.

Sometimes it's worse than that.

This morning, I give a B because the moment I walked away, they did come to the table to eat. But this is pretty par for the course at my house, I prepare breakfast and invite them to come sit down.

Then, this happens.

That's actually very little resistance.

There are even some words thrown into those tantrums if you listen. Well placed rational words.

Autism is so annoying.


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Failing Dairy

So, of late I've had this stomach thing going on that's different from my USUAL stomach thing. Beyond the reflux and burning and whatever that I keep at bay with medicine, I've had this weird thing happen when I eat.

Sometimes when I eat, I will feel suddenly so full that I feel like I'm going to be sick. It occurred to me one night that, the exact feeling was that sensation that your food hasn't gone down right, that your stomach isn't emptying. The food seems to just SIT there, like I'm having some weird random bout of gastroparesis. The best way I can describe it is, you know the moments before the nausea but you know you ARE going to throw up?

That feeling.

It was hard to pinpoint at first. My first challenge was, I never eat LARGE meals. I just can't, I suppose related to my other stomach issues. So, my meals aren't that big so I should NOT feel like I just gorged at the buffet. Next it was just so random, it wasn't every meal it just seemed to pop up so randomly.

The first moment it popped up isolated that I pinpointed it was at work. I grabbed an ice cream out of the machine at work, and sat back down at my desk, nibbling and doing my thing when suddenly.........OH GOD YUCK my stomach went from hungry to overfull and bloated.

I told my friend Christine I had just had ice cream, and she immediately said DAIRY.

I considered it, and I meant to pay more attention but didn't for a couple of weeks. But I've been miserable on and off for a couple of days and then I decided I had to notice. In the morning after my breakfast yogurt, ugh misery.

Dairy.

I started reading about lactose intolerance. I'm giving it a maybe and decided that I would try to avoid dairy this weekend which I've already failed. Our mashed potatoes for dinner had butter and sour cream mixed into them, however they didn't bother me. I didn't put butter on my roll. I had pork loin, mashed potatoes and green beans and a roll, and no stomach problems at all.

So then. I HAD dairy but no problem.

This morning though as I was making the twins breakfast, I was pouring chocolate milk and took a drink to lower the level of milk in the cup (sure that's why), and within a few moments my stomach was UGH FULL.

My food intake as of that moment in time was two viactiv chews for my vitamin D and calcium, a glass of water, and that sip of chocolate milk.

Dairy.

I don't even know what to think but I'm going to figure it out and if I have to stop eating dairy I guess I will. It's a miserable feeling so I feel like it's a small sacrifice but man I will miss Greek yogurt because it's truly the best stuff ever for breakfast.

This is my surprised face. I don't know why. But it made me laugh.

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Failing Dairy

So, of late I've had this stomach thing going on that's different from my USUAL stomach thing. Beyond the reflux and burning and whatever that I keep at bay with medicine, I've had this weird thing happen when I eat.

Sometimes when I eat, I will feel suddenly so full that I feel like I'm going to be sick. It occurred to me one night that, the exact feeling was that sensation that your food hasn't gone down right, that your stomach isn't emptying. The food seems to just SIT there, like I'm having some weird random bout of gastroparesis. The best way I can describe it is, you know the moments before the nausea but you know you ARE going to throw up?

That feeling.

It was hard to pinpoint at first. My first challenge was, I never eat LARGE meals. I just can't, I suppose related to my other stomach issues. So, my meals aren't that big so I should NOT feel like I just gorged at the buffet. Next it was just so random, it wasn't every meal it just seemed to pop up so randomly.

The first moment it popped up isolated that I pinpointed it was at work. I grabbed an ice cream out of the machine at work, and sat back down at my desk, nibbling and doing my thing when suddenly.........OH GOD YUCK my stomach went from hungry to overfull and bloated.

I told my friend Christine I had just had ice cream, and she immediately said DAIRY.

I considered it, and I meant to pay more attention but didn't for a couple of weeks. But I've been miserable on and off for a couple of days and then I decided I had to notice. In the morning after my breakfast yogurt, ugh misery.

Dairy.

I started reading about lactose intolerance. I'm giving it a maybe and decided that I would try to avoid dairy this weekend which I've already failed. Our mashed potatoes for dinner had butter and sour cream mixed into them, however they didn't bother me. I didn't put butter on my roll. I had pork loin, mashed potatoes and green beans and a roll, and no stomach problems at all.

So then. I HAD dairy but no problem.

This morning though as I was making the twins breakfast, I was pouring chocolate milk and took a drink to lower the level of milk in the cup (sure that's why), and within a few moments my stomach was UGH FULL.

My food intake as of that moment in time was two viactiv chews for my vitamin D and calcium, a glass of water, and that sip of chocolate milk.

Dairy.

I don't even know what to think but I'm going to figure it out and if I have to stop eating dairy I guess I will. It's a miserable feeling so I feel like it's a small sacrifice but man I will miss Greek yogurt because it's truly the best stuff ever for breakfast.

This is my surprised face. I don't know why. But it made me laugh.

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