lauren kennedy is my remedy

Went to hang out w/LK for a bit after the play w/Adva yesterday. Just wanted to mention how much fun I always have w/her and that I wish I had her drive! Lauren - how do you do what you do? Lauren is one of the most on top of it, put together, superwoman people I know! We went grocery shopping and had an early dinner and just had a blast catching up. Move to Raleigh your senior year of Dental School so that we can play more often.

I slept for ELEVEN hours last night (10-9). It felt so wonderful. I really need to be running my goal (its really low right now) every day even when i'm super busy, so I'm about to go do it, even though I REALLY don't want to. I feel like I have so much to get done (paperwork aaaah) and laundry. I hate doing laundry. 

It might snow tonight!! Hurray! Maybe school will be cancelled and I can do more stuff around the house. I just feel like I have all this stuff to do and I spend all this time thinking of everything I have to do instead of just getting it done! I mean I do get things done, but I just need to have a more organized running list and just do things!!! I guess that means I better stop writing and go running!

Making a big vat of chili later...but only if I get .....TWO more things done first.

Ready..set...go!

currently reading...

Julie and Julia, by Julie Powell.

Decided to read a fluff book - fun so far! I also decided I'm going to "assign" non-autism related reading to my clients' parents that are agreeable to this idea so that they can get a short escape. I will assign this book when I'm done reading it.

Going to Durham later to see a play with Adva. Haven't seen her in a while. It's a shame we don't see each other more but she's got her super strict schedule and it's hard for her to veer away from it, and as we all know I've been ridiculously busy, so it's hard. My mom gets super happy when we do figure out a time to see each other though. I just hope we can do it a few more times before she graduates and we don't live within 30 minutes of each other.

Speaking of being super busy, I may be giving Odge to the Secan family to keep for me for several days at a time, so that he can get a bit more attention than I'm able to provide him. Sara Rose thinks I'm silly and says she doesn't mind doing what she's been doing (she takes him out every day, and so does Lauren - my roommate), but I just feel bad because he shouldn't be their responsibility. The Secans are excited at this possibility because they have been wanting to socialize their own dog, and they say that their dog likes little dogs. Odge - you better be a good friend! I'll miss you though, we'll see if I can sleep at night w/o ya.

One of the most rewarding things of my life right now is my job. Everyone is worried that I'm not socializing enough, but I really feel fine. I still hang out w/Sara and Erica all the time, and I have movie nights, dinner nights, book club, DG alumni stuff - so just because I'm not going out to the bars doesn't mean I'm not socializing. I could do it a bit more and work a bit less, but I'm really happy with it.  I really try to send my students' parents reinforcing e-mails, because I feel like usually teachers will only do that when they have to give a report, or will only contact the parents for negative things. Last week one of my students whose reading level in Hebrew was relatively low came back from break reading SO fluidly. I sent her mom an email and she responded telling me that her daughter looks forward to the once a week class, and thanking me for being such a good teacher. Several weeks ago I wrote an email to some moms of my clients (they know each other), telling them how good i was to work with such wonderful families, and I got a response telling me that they can sleep better at night knowing that I care so much about their kids. To me, this is the most rewarding thing that I've ever done, and hearing these comments just makes me want to work more!

Yesterday I went to the Davis' with Sara. They are a family from temple with two kids - Rebecca (2nd grade, brilliant, i've sub-taught her), and David (almost 4, has autism, verbal, SUPER sweet). Fiona (mom) is bravely battling cancer and had another round of chemo on Thursday, so I went over to help with the kids to give her some free time to rest. Sara Rose came with me. We played in the house a bit (Rebecca sold more girl scout cookies to Sara - I already purchased 3 boxes from her - thin mints and tagalongs of course). We played chase with David and had a lot of fun. Then we loaded car seats in my car and took them to McDonalds for some happy meals and playplace time! Rebecca is an instant leader and rounded up a bunch of girls to be on "safety patrol" it was so cute! She also went up to a family sitting next to us and blurts out "my brother has autism!" she was so proud of it! The dad just had no idea what to say - so funny!  She had to make a "bio" for school and on it put 3 important facts about her, and that was the number 1 fact - that he has autism, number 2 and 3 had to do with favorite things and dancing I believe. I am glad we went yesterday and hope we do it again soon.

I want to write about Sara Rose and how proud I am of her. She's really gotten her life together despite what she's going through (a major break up and quitting her job). Wubby - I couldn't be more proud of you. I know since you don't have a mommy to tell you these things that it gets hard, and I know that whenever I make an accomplishment I love sharing it with my mom, so please know that I am here publicly sending you infinite positive reinforcement. I love you!

Dinner Tonight with Recipes!

Curried Brocci-flour souffle:

-one frozen bag of cauliflour

-frozen broc (i had leftovers from a restaurant so i used that)

-cream cheese

-1 egg and 2 egg whites

-curry powder

-salt and white pepper

-margarine

1. parboil the vegetables and drain

2. food process with salt, white pepper, curry powder, and garlic powder if you want

3. add in one egg while processing

4. add in cream cheese so its at a creamy consistency

5. meanwhile, whip 2 egg whites so they form soft peaks

6. fold into vegetable puree and spread in a greased casserole dish

7. bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes (mine was ready at about 16-17)

enjoy!

Item number two: Braised cabbage bologni and creamy swiss sandwich

-take a piece of whole wheat bread and spread laughing cow reduced fat swiss cheese. 

-spoon my grandma's recipe of braised cabbage (recipe follows)

-top off w/a piece of turkey bologni. eat open faced

Braised cabbage:

-about 1/4 cup chopped white onion

-one bag of shredded green cabbage

-brown sugar

-2 small cans of tomato paste

-red wine

-raisins

1. saute the onion and cabbage in oil/margarine/whatever floats your boat, so the onions sweat and the cabbage gets wet all around

2. add a heaping wooden spoon of tightly packed brown sugar

3. add cans of tomato paste and double amount of water

4. add in about 1/4 cup red wine

5. mix all in and let it braise for a few minutes

6. add in the raisins and let the liquid reduce so it's like a relish

serve hot or cold!

my resolutions

1. Drink more water when I'm home to waste less plastic

2. Walk Odge more

3. When speaking to people, not to overtalk - they don't need to know every detail. But meanwhile maintain my personality.

4. Use my ear piece when driving. and don't text unless at red lights.

5. Floss. And while we're on the subject of teeth, brush Odge's teeth at least once a week.

6. File my paperwork quicker - don't let it sit on my desk for a while and then do it.

7. Eat less sodium and less white starches.

8. Continue to read for pleasure. At least 1.5 books a month, but can be less if I'm reading a therapy manual.

9. Continue to be responsible about my sleep schedule.

10. Go out more!! I'm young!

11. Use the principles I use in therapy on myself to train myself to run  3 miles without stopping. 

12. Take my vitamins and fish oil every day. Maintain my iron levels high enough so that I can donate blood 6 times this year (every two months), unless rejected for non-iron related reasons (fever, low blood pressure, etc). On the blood topic, encourage at least 2 people to donate this year, and hopefully encourage them to become regular donors.

13. Pack in a more organized fashion and not put it off to the last minute when I go on trips.

14. Learn more sign language.

15. Complete Sara and Lauren's manual from this summer. This is an inside joke but the Resolution is not a joke.

currently RE-reading

Currently re-reading The Great Gatsby for book club. I forgot how much I like this book. It's so fun reading it without having to memorize every single word that I didn't know the meaning - my 10th grade English teacher, who has very sadly passed away since then, would give us quizzes on vocabulary words from the reading. Did we know what words would be on the test? No! So if we didn't know a word in the passage we had to read that night, we had to memorize every single one! And we didn't get a context for the words either. Poor us! Gatsby has great diction though and I'm enjoying seeing what words I know now that I underlined back then, and what words I still have no idea what they mean.

Being back is good but I'm so lazy and unmotivated - I really need to go clean stuff but since I'm not on my busy schedule I just want to sit and do nothing!  I did go to the museum today with Brittany and her son Seth which was fun, and free! But now I'm home and instead of filing paperwork and vacuuming I am on the couch with my cuddlebug Odge and writing this blog.

I am going to do a whole bunch of cooking in a bit. Giant batch of turkey chili with lots of beans and corn; braised cabbage with raisins; tomato soup; minestrone; mom's cabbage salad (that I make better! mwa ha ha); and just some chicken breast to cut up into salads for the week. I'l probably make a bean salad w/the leftovers beans from the chili and add in more corn and peas, with some vinegar and lemon juice and pepper - it's the easiest salad in the world and super yummy and healthy.

I gave my clients a free babysitting session for Christmas - figured it would mean more to them than a chachki gimmick. I babysat for one last night and it was so fun. I know I'm obsessed w/work but I just love all my clients and their families and I love actually helping someone.  I love seeing the tangible effects I have on my kids - literally, they focus better and are closer to their goals the same day that they have therapy versus a day off. I couldn't be happier.  I'm waiting to hear from several different students that will be interns on my programs so that my kids can get in more hours, and will also be great because it will help them generalize to different people. How exciting! I'm going to see one of Sara's kids tomorrow that I'm writing a program for - he's a very part time client - just an hour or so a week, but I'm still excited to get started on his program and see how he progresses.

I saw the Bricklins the other day to bring them a small holiday gift, and they told me they were going out of town for a week, so I offered to watch Xena, their dog, so she wouldn't have to be boarded, and they took me up on it for part of the time. I'm picking her up on Wednesday and will stay at their house with her and Odge until Saturday. It will be really nice to be in North Raleigh - closer to work! Hopefully something will work out for the New Years Eve plan for the kid's party.

Okay, back to being lazy for another hour by watching House reruns. Then I guess the kitchen's waiting.