Small things

I feel like I've been whiny lately. So I've decided to focus on a few good things:

The lawn seems be doing well. The grass has filled in and is a nice rich green. Our hard work paid off!

Liam's speech has vastly improved. He's now approaching "normal" ranges for his comprehension and expression. This is a huge leap from when he started speech therapy two and a half years ago and he was in the 0 percentile for language.

Liam also took part in a study recently for autism and childhood reading. The results showed that he's above average for reading comprehension and recognition. Yay, our kid is a genius (no, not really, but he's very bright.)

Alana has also started talking up a storm. Unlike Liam, she has no problem letting us know what's on her mind. Loudly. And ALL THE TIME. But it's cute. And good that she's starting to talk.

I wore a pair of jeans yesterday I'd bought after Alana was born four years ago. They fit and were even a little big. I'm not sure if I've lost any weight because I refuse to use our scale which is notoriously unreliable. But it was a big ego boost.

Despite prednisone being the most evil drug known to mankind, I haven't had a single asthma attack since October. Which isn't a surprise since it's routinely prescribed for people with asthma.

I think the metformin is having at least some small effect based on the Beau's lines on my nails (this is what happens when you give a hypochondriac an internet connection).

Our city's farmer's market started. It's only three blocks from our house, so we walked over. The kids fed some alpacas and a llama carrots, listened to a marching bagpipe band, then we breakfasted on some baked goodies, and then I bought some produce that I later made into bulgogi. I've never had really fresh garlic but it's awesome.

The black one is a llama. The rest are alpacas.

I couldn't get a good picture of the kids feeding the llama carrots.

Why, hello there.

The area we live in is pretty settled unlike the previous city which still has massive amounts of farmland. So imagine my surprise when I was sitting at a stop light and was greeted by this (look in the lower corner of the window on the right):

I should mention that this city is also full of hippies. With goats in the back of their vans apparently.

I can't feel my legs

Kiribati armour Source

To help put this in context, I took my first pilates class yesterday. This is the conversation Justin and I had when I woke up this morning:

Me: "There's a tribe in Micronesia that used coconut fibers to make their armour which was so stiff they needed squires to help them move around."

Justin: "Uhhhh, yeah?"

Me: "I think I need you to be my squire today."

Currently can't feel my legs or back and anything that requires the flexing of my abdomen is dang near impossible. Can I lose weight by flexing my pinky toes because that's the only body part I can move.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Alternate title: How I melted into a whiny little @$%$# Part 2397786

I woke up this morning with a deep and complete loathing for mankind. What? That's not normal? I don't know what it was but the past week I've been little grumpy. I have some theories:

Stupid people. Goes without saying.

The RS President who (not) so helpfully pointed out a rash of acne on my face that'd I'd been self-conscious about all week. Yes this goes under stupid people, but this was a special level of stupid I thought it deserved it's own mention.

Having to fill out a ton of paperwork for end of school stuff, next year school stuff, and stuff to get Alana into more therapy. Which I'm going to have to add to my weekly schedule. Yay.

No sleep. For some reason I've only been sleeping about four hours a night, usually broken up in several chunks.

I had a little manic episode. I unpacked a ton of boxes, painted the foyer, and when through two closets and donated half the stuff in them. And then sunk into the inevitable depression that followed afterwards. I've spent the past couple days barely getting out of bed and if I managed that, sitting on the couch watching Orphan Black. Which was awesome, probably the best show this year.

I found a picture taken when Alana was about a year old. I was about 50 lbs lighter. I don't feel so great about myself right now.

I found a gray hair. Which was as long as the rest of my hair. Which means that I've been going gray for a while. So I know that's not a big deal, but my hair is the only thing I'm vain about and I'm very sad.

But it might not matter because all my hair is falling out from the methotraxate. This is what I pulled out just running my hand through my hair after a bath:

I have no idea why I can't get this rotated right.

I'm start to wean off the prednisone for the sixth or seventh time. And like all the other times, my granulomas is growing again and hurting. Which is causing me to freak a little bit. But I've made a decision. I am done with the prednisone. I was only supposed to be on it for 9 weeks and it's now over eight months. I'm tired of the insomnia, the struggle with weight, the acne, and the complete crazies that come with it. I've developed a "moon face" and buffalo hump, which might not go away even after I get off the medication. But at this point, I'd rather take the pain and puss (four months if anyone's keeping track, ugh) than stay on these damn pills any longer.

So after that long boring whine, I think I'll just sit on the couch with a Belgian chocolate cup and some Gilmore Girls and feel sorry for myself.

Next Margaret Cho?

I found some truly terrible Korean jokes today:

Where to old Korean men go to find love? eHalmoni.com

Will Smith was in a Korean restaurant and ordered a bowl of rice. The waiter asks if that's all he wants. Smith says, "No I'm getting jiggae with it."

Justin nearly had an aneurysm at the terribleness of that last one. I'm still giggling.

IM with Justin

Copied and pasted from today:

(11:05:30 AM) Miranda: I think Liam maybe cutting out a marijuana leaf.

(11:06:32 AM) Justin: I didn't teach him that.

(11:09:59 AM) Justin: I blame the liberal education he's been getting. 

Parents of the year, right here.