I suffered from depression for a long time-even while listening to televangelist after televangelist and sermon after sermon-before it finally sunk in that I had a lot of say in how I felt. Don’t think so? Guess again. It’s all in how you’re thinking. Whatever you’re thinking about most will eventually color your feelings and your countenance. Ever notice how when you have a habit, your body just develops a need for that habit (exercise, eating, etc.)? Your mind is the same way. If it gets addicted to a certain way of thinking, it just gets itself in a rut. Give it something else to think about. Look at some comedy. Think about something good. If nothing else, just laugh out loud-no matter how you feel. Yes, sometimes you have to do things even when you’re not feeling it in order for your mind to start getting the drift.

The bible says that a merry heart does good like a medicine (Prov. 17:22). And you know what? It’s right! Nowadays though, there’s really not enough clean humor. I think most folks are trying to get as vulgar and immoral as they can get (even though the general consensus regarding American values still frowns on it, go figure). Take for instance, cussing. Almost every movie you watch has some professional cussing going on in it. These people have this skill on lock. You can barely find one show that does it without dropping at least one bomb (at least an s- or a d-). This alone makes the pickings very slim. But there is some okay material out there. So, I try to get close enough (and pray like mad that I don’t start cussing myself, lol). House, Desperate, Secret Life. They give me some kicks. Okay…The characters have some pretty strange quirks. But they’re all pretty hilarious!

Some stuff I can find on the web, too. After I got into grad school, I also got into Twitter. There’s not enough time in the world for me to read all of the posts that are out there in Twitter World. Actually, all of them aren’t great (rolling my eyes here). But I do find it to be a good way to get some laughs here and there (and when you have as much going on as I do, you do need laughs here and there). I actually do searches for the funniest (least vulgar) ones. Still working on the least vulgar part of that search, actually. But there are a couple chuckles on there. Take this one for instance by Meeting Boy:

Four meetings today. And then later, no doubt, a meeting with my boss about how I’m not getting anything done.
6:49 AM Nov 11th from HelloTxt

Okay. If you’ve ever worked in an office setting, how can you not laugh at that? All this guy tweets about is office meetings and such. Sounds boring, but it’s not. Now, though it’s rare so far as I’ve seen, there are a few expletives…and, no, you really can’t take his advice or you could get fired. But, you can laugh at his tweets all you want. There are a couple other gems on Twitter like that too.

Make yourself laugh and do it on purpose. You’ll feel better.

I made some waffles for my kids tonight. Meh, it’s okay. I was scared first because it smelled medicine-y. But the mix itself was just really runny (as opposed to a thicker consistency when I usually make waffles). But they ate them, so I guess it passed.

Doh! And I just added another one.

I have been using an iPod touch for a little over a year now and not only is it one of the most fun devices I’ve ever used, but it’s also one of the most helpful. I only got the idea to search for apps that would address autism a few days ago. And, granted, while there weren’t a hundred apps to choose from, there were quite a few that I found to be pretty helpful for me. For those mothers out there with children with disabilities, check out the following apps that I have on my iPod for my daughter (in order of how much I wuv them!):

iPrompts is an app made by a company called Handhold Adaptive. It uses pictures to help your child get through the day with a scheduler type function (enabling you to let your child know what’s coming next in the day), a chooser type function (Would you like apples or raisins?), a timer function (like to let your child know in how much time she will be getting out of the bathtub to go night night), and a library for pictures so you can add whatever you need into the app (like for adding pics to the library for the choices I give her or for helping her practice words like flash cards or learning faces). This app is AMAZING!!

Is That Gluten Free? is an app I really like at the moment because I am researching how to transfer my daughter to a GFCF diet. Now, it would make it exponentially better to add a casein free component too (and I have contacted the developer about that so I’m really hoping!!)…But for now, it’ll do while we’re taking it slow. I have seen a review that says that the author of this app actually calls himself to verify dates (and the reviewer felt that could need to be done fairly frequently). But this is an app that’s just getting started and they usually go through a few permutations before they’re perfecto. This one is starting off so well though, I have high hopes for it.

Bento for iPhone made by Filemaker is a side-by-side app that goes with Bento for the Mac. There is a saying that for every thing under the sun, “There’s an app for that.” You’ve heard it. Well, I searched and searched for an app that would help me to keep a record of what I feed my daughter over the course of the day. You know, like a Food Diary. Problem was, I couldn’t find one that did it without all the calorie counting and the exercise tallying. That kind of stuff, I didn’t need. Enter Bento. Bento for Mac is a non-overkill database application with pre-defined templates that makes your information look like this:

The big plus about this app is that you can tailor whichever template you use to suit your needs. You can even make your own up on the fly. They look great too! Now I don’t have to search for a place to record my GFCF recipes (because there’s a template for that too). I have a whole bunch of information at my fingertips, wrapped up into one app! Sweet!!

Scroll down to Topic News Reader to see the icon and link for Autism News an rss reader made by Splaysoft. It takes the top stories all over the web that deal with this topic and put it all in one place. Who wouldn’t love that?

Now the next two are just fun apps that I sit with my daughter and let her play with on the way to sleep-not necessarily just for autistics. But she loves to sing and these are just for fun with mommy!

Wheels on the Bus

Old MacDonald

There are other apps out there too that I think may be for older autistics (like some that actually talk for your child). If you find some that you find to be a help, let me know. I love trying new apps!

I see some of the children at the school she attends and I wonder will she still not be able to tell me when she’s older. Whatever though. She’s my baby and I’m in this for the long haul.

See what I mean? Nice, BIG yawn.

But she is getting better at the PECS system it seems. Her book has cards in it for foods that she likes and a few of her toys like her Elmo doll.

On the cover, it has a place for her to make a sentence.

Usually, she puts them on there all willy-nilly. Most times the “I want” is after the object. But, it works. This particular sentence means “I want yogurt.” She’s eating that like candy these days. Sometimes the yogurt picture gets, ahem, lost….

And finally!!

I received my first letter from my other little girl (as I like to think of her from time to time). Sorry for the blurriness. Still working on my pic taking skills.

Mayra is in the first grade and is getting help with her letters from her tutor. But I’m just so happy she wrote! I plan on writing her again tonight. I bought some brand spanking new stickers for her. Still haven’t ordered that paper wallet yet. But it’s still on the to-do list. Just won’t be a birthday present. Maybe Christmas? Sounds like a plan.

I’ve had this cold for a couple weeks now and I sound like a car revving up the engine for a spin. All the fluids draining from my snort pack, as my husband likes to call it, are clear. But they’re on constant flow. The little one had it for three days. This is my almost third week now. I must be doing something totally right with her and something horribly wrong with me. I practice KISS with my kids. But for me, I take a high potency multi, two 500 mg vitamin C tablets, and an Immune Boosting Emergen-C packet. Just an older model, I guess.

Anyway, it feels like it is going to be another long week. Cough.

If He’s trying to teach me something through all this, I just wish I would wise up already. This is beginning to get ridiculous.

At any rate, got to get back on the poop post.

“cookie”
“chips”
“drink”
“m&m’s”
“doritos”

When Mya wants something, she takes the “I want” card and attaches it to the front of the long red card. Then she looks into the binder for what she wants and attaches that card right next the “I want” card to make her request. It’s great!!

Now, if only we had a card that said “potty”.