Here’s a virtual hug and kiss (if you want one) for the New Years… Welcome 2008… I’m feeling very Olympic!

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!!!

Yes, it’s the Eve to Christmas Eve and we are ready to shop! Being near Myrtle Beach means one thing… okay it means a few things… but for the womens in the family it mean SHOPPING. And nothing says shopping like OUTLET MALLS. I mean, the beach needs something to do when it’s raining, so the outlet malls have began to fester in the Myrtle Beach area.

I was able to coordinate meeting with Devaney and Andy (DevAndy) to meet us at the Beach. They live in Wilmington, NC which is about an hour away. It had been over a year since I had seen him. Devaney is one of my best friends from Longwood College and also my Big Brother in my fraternity.  We met up at Wal-mart (since it’s a good location and EVERYBODY knows where to find Wal-mart) and went to eat over at BoJangles. The Rice Bowls at BoJangles (as far as we know) are Gluten Free Casein Reduced (has some cheese) and are very tasty and filling too. We were pleased.

DevAndy and our gang said our goodbyes and headed off in our own directions. Them, back home; us, OUTLETS. The first thing we did was unleash our Au Pair to go shop. She wasn’t able to arrange anything for Christmas so she came home with us. We instructed her NOT to work, since it was a vacation for her and there were plenty of family members to take care of the kids. Now, when you mention the word “Shopping” to our Au Pair, her eyes light up and a smile grows on her face. Clothes, especially Brand Name, are crazy expensive in Brazil… therefore the Outlet stores are like Crack Houses to her. The regular store price of something might be $100, well, the outlet price might be $50-70 if it’s still in-season… in Brazil it’s like $200-300. So either way she wins and so does her sister and boyfriend and other friends. Let’s just say we were glad we brought the van…

****cousins****

The Elder loved His Cousin when he came to visit a few years back, but now he got to meet his other Cousin too. The Older Cousin is 8yo, with very much the intelligence beyond his years. I’m sure if he’s doing recreational calculus in the school playground, but he’s well read and well spoken. And boy, does he enjoy to speak. The Younger Cousin is 6yo and more of the observer when it came to processing new people. In the first 30 seconds of coming into Lolo & Lola’s house, The Older Cousin was already telling us something while the Younger Cousin was seeing if these new creatures were friendly or not.

It didn’t help that Lola was demanding hugs from the grandsons. The Older Cousin reluctantly gave her a hug and the Younger cousin tried to run away and did the “Hug-My-Back” maneuver. All the kids seemed to hit it off pretty well from what I remember. There wasn’t a trip to Emergency Room, so things worked out okay. At some point in time I think The Cousins became bored with my kids, perhaps do to the fact that The Elder and The Younger were relishing in the brain rotting televisions all over the house. I think they were watching some Christmas Scooby Doo episode.

So, needing an adult conversation, the Older Cousin starts asking about The Elder and what videos and video games he has. We proceed to talk about different things, such as Harry Potter and Star Wars. He had a one sided with me about the Lego Star Wars game along with some other video games that I had never played. I kept throwing curve balls out to him about different topics. I asked him who shot first Han or Greedo.

The Younger Cousin tried to chime in the conversation but he couldn’t talk fast enough to get in what he wanted to say. His dad even stepped in sometimes to help but the Older Cousin would pip in… he did tried to show restraint, but it was very difficult for him. I asked the Younger Cousin questions point blank so that his executive function could catch up with him. It’s not that he didn’t know what he wanted to say, it’s just that getting it from the neurons to the mouth was slower than the Older’s Cousin response time and patience. But I think that Younger Cousin was appreciative of the attention that I gave, which in all respects, he deserves. And with no prompting, the Younger Cousin asked if he could sit on my lap… why sure!

The Cousins became instant best friends and we were one day closer to Christmas.

It’s been like a year since I have posted any content. So now, I got quite a bit of stuff to blog about but I don’t want to just dump it in one post. I’ll have to feed you the elephant one spoon at a time.

So when we last left our hero, he was getting ready to pack up his Wild and Crazy Family and head to visit the In-Laws in South Carolina. Not only were the human kids going but we were bringing our furry kid. Typically when we travel, the dog (Skip) gets to go to doggy jail were he gets so excited that they have to give him a sedative so he won’t hurt himself. So, on Saturday 12-22 and ON TIME, we headed out for Carolina: Southside.

****The Travel****

The trip wasn’t all that bad. It was definitely longer because of eating and potty breaks. We ended up eating KFC and trying to take all the breading off to keep the kids Gluten Free… so it was really Gluten reduced. I got an early Christmas present… I was walking Skip at a rest stop when I went over to the  “Pet Walk” which is in the much inconvenient place. As I passed by a drain gutter, I noticed President Andrew Jackson look at me from the mouth of the drain. There in plain site and right on the ground was a $20 bill. KA-CHING!

****Lolo & Lola’s House****

Lolo and Lola are Tagalog (Tuh-GOL-ig) for Grandfather and Grandmother. So we kept prefacing that we were going to Lolo & Lola’s house and the kids were so happy that we were finally there. And course so were Mommy and Daddy. From the first time that the kids stepped foot in the house, Lola (very loudly) wanted to get hugs from the kids. The Elder (with sensory and aspergian traits) prefers to scan and acclimate to his new surroundings, then once he is comfortable will show affection with some prodding. The Younger, well, he just loves to hug and get the attention. So while The Elder was trying to avoid getting hugged, The Younger was having blast.

One of the things about Lolo & Lola’s house that fascinated the kids were all the new choking hazards and potential injury play stations. Another thing were the large TVs on the same level of the house. Our biggest TV is around 36″ and downstairs. They had a 42″+ flat screen in the den, plus a 36″ TV in the eating area and then a huge TV in their bedroom. It’s like going to Sam’s and seeing the 3lb bag of M&Ms for the first time. Another “fun” feature for the kids is that the light switchs are lower and easier to operate. Thus Little People can make manual strobe light effects, which doesn’t make the Older People all that happy.

****Skipper Run’s Free****

More on Skip in a minute, but he had the BEST time. Not only did he get plenty of attention, he got a huge amount of exercise. He actually did very well off the leash… I was impressed, but if there were other dogs around, it might not go over so well.

Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that’s snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that’s snowing down, all around the worldIt’s nearer, children’s eyes shine clearer now
As they decorate the trees, all across the seven seas
It’s nearer, yule log fires burn clearer now
In the winter’s frosty air, sing with us and we can share our

Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that’s snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that’s snowing down, all around the world

It’s dawning, Santa’s reindeer yawning now
All their festive work is done, filling houses up with fun
It’s dawning, here is Christmas morning now
Greatest day of all the year, listen out and you will hear our

Thanks for Christmas

It’s such a shame it’s only one day every year
Three hundred and sixty-four days full of doubts and fear
You’ve been saving your love up, let it out, ‘cos Christmas is here

Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the love and happiness that’s snowing down, all around
Thanks for Christmas
Thank you for the winter friendliness that’s snowing down, all around the world

Thanks for Christmas

This Week’s Theme: Light

This picture was taken at the Fantasy of the Trees this year. They had a great display of trees that were nothing more than Christmas Lights. I took a number of them slightly out of focus for effect, this one turned out the best. Have a great weekend!

Visit my Photo Hunt Archives

I have uploaded a new episode, really just an update, of Gravity @ 1053′ which is my podcast focused on running. If don’t have the show automatically downloaded by a podcatcher (such as iTunes or Juice) you can download the MP3 file HERE (Right Click and Save As)

So what would you do if you just came home and your Lovely and Talented Wife and/or Husband, Partner, Life Partner, Girl Friend, Boy Friend, Roommate, [Fill in Blank] says, “GO see what the kids are doing?”

That’s not a good sign. Especially when you can hear them talking. When one of them is screaming, you know what to expect. When they are talking, there is no limit to the evil mischief that they are getting themselves into. What’s worse, is that I hear them both in the Bathroom and it’s not tubtime. Rarely are they in there together, in a playing sort of environment.

The way our hall bathroom is configured, the Large Wall mirror is positioned so that if the door is open you can see the toilet from the living room. This could lead to embarrassment for someone who didn’t quite shut the door. In my case, I use it as an early warning system. I can “see” the inside of the bathroom before I get there and this gives me at least 2 seconds to process what I see before I get to the bathroom, cutting the “Surprise and Alarm” factor by 2.

So, I am hearing the kids talking (oh, not good) and then, in the mirror, I see them around the toilet (oh, SO not good) and The Elder has the toilet scrubber (Bad, very bad). Oh, please Lord, let it not be a clogged toilet with poop and toilet paper and the toilet scrubber breaking apart wet unsanitary paper and it flinging everywhere, I don’t want to have to call the Center for Disease Control to come down to sanitize the bathroom.

So in 2 seconds, I am turning into the bathroom asking, “What are you doing?”

“They won’t go down,” The Elder replies. And then I see this:

The Hellions Kids are stuffing packing peanuts down the toilet. DOWN THE TOILET! And The Elder is using the toilet brush to ram them down, since they have to flush them. The optimist in me thinks, “Well, at least it’s not poop.”

So what would you do? What I did Below:

I

AM

Making 

This

Invisotext

Because my HTML editor eats up

Extra white space… bastard.

Anyway, go look in the mirror and say “Damn, I’m looking GOOD!”

“No! No! Let’s put the scrubber away and get out of here. Let’s go to the kitchen.”

I take the scrubber away and think to myself how I get to fish out the peanuts from the toilet water… sure SOME could be sent to the water treatment plant, but not all at once. I usher the kids out of the bathroom to the kitchen.  As I pass My Lovely and Talented Wife’s Office she inquires,

“What were they up to?”

“Heh, it’s picture worthy… They were stuffing peanuts down the toilet,” I said in passing as I got the kids redirected into the kitchen and to get my camera.

“Oh, I should of told them not to do them all at once.” WHAT? They had Executive Clearance to stuff packing peanuts down the toilet? Am I in the right house? “They probably just need to add some water, they are the biodegradable peanuts.”

Oh… thank goodness! And sure enough, all it took was some additional water and the peanuts dissolved and the toilet was Free and Clear.

Earlier in December, I had decided that I was going to write a post about Christmas’ past and how what I experienced was related to my Aspergers and what stuff was just “the Holidays”. But instead of being an Oracle and predicting the course of events, I am going to wait and analyze everything afterwards. I want to see how some things play out, both on my part and the part of the relatives that we will be seeing this Christmas time.

I have a couple of Special Interest stuff planned while we are there, so that should (and I say should) keep out actually being depressed as has been the case in year’s past. And we’ll see how my downtime goes. Now that I understand more about myself, and how and why I operate I can better moderate myself and be less of an asshole and more of a smart ass, because let’s face it… I’m much more social when I’m being one of those than when I am being the former.

It also helps that the meds have greatly cut down on my ambient anxiety level. So, right now, I am anxious about our trip but I think that’s more on a level of what someone might deem “normal level” rather than being off the deep end about everything and thus waiting until the last possible minute to do everything, shutting down, becoming a recluse and making everyone’s life miserable. There are procrastinators out there, professional ones, who can wait until the very last moment and be stressed but not have a total physical and mentally collapse. Hopefully, I will be one of those this year, except without the “waiting until the last moment part.”

Somebody’s watching me and I have no privacy…

And I don’t feel safe anymore
Oh, what a mess
I wonder who’s watching me now
(Who)
The [Kitty Cats]

I have Stella with me and took a couple of pictures of the wild cats that the guy next door feeds. They now don’t run off when you walk past them, but they are very cautious.

Yesterday we had our Christmas party for my place of work. For the second time we had a local pub within walking (or stumbling) distance host our lunchtime celebration. The Old Guys provided the ham and turkey and the bar provided the fixins. We had green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy and cranberry sauce in addition to the meat. I passed on the gluten ladened dinner rolls, but I did get some of the gravy. Most gravies have flour in them as a thickener.

Funny aside story: My Father In-Law was making some gravy and was using cornstarch as a thickener. If you’ve never used cornstarch, not only will it soothe a baby’s bottom from diaper rash, but when used as a thickener, you don’t need a whole lot. So, he puts some in, stirs and stirs, still liquid, puts some more in, stirs and stirs, puts some more in… by the time that he was done, you could ask for a slice of gravy with your potatoes.

In the past, after the lunch, we have a gift exchange and a dessert feast where everyone brings in a dessert from home. However, this year, we were doing a chocolate fondue for the dessert. Fancy huh? Here in East Tennessee we pronounce the “t” in Gourmet! So, we signed up for items for dippage. I chose the fat free, gluten free, casein free Marshmallow as the item I would bring.

So we were in the conference room dipping and eating and more dipping and one of the items on the table was chocolate brownies. Not the normal made from the box chocolate brownies. These were homemade from one of the respected bakers in our workgroup. The looked so moist and packed with chocolate. I sat there and fantasized about eating one of those brownies… but NO, they had gluten in them. Sure, I was eating a bunch of casein in the milk and white chocolate fondues, but I had been pretty good about the gluten (from the gravy).

But then, some how a brownie ended up on my plate. In front of Congress, I would have to say “I do not recall picking up the brownie.” THat’s my story… hell, it has worked before. So, I had the brownie with some chocolate and oh my, it was so moist and delicious. It was SO worth eating. I mean, if you are going to break the rules, it should be worth it. And since I had ONE brownie in one flavor of chocolate, I had to eat ANOTHER one, right?

So, I had maybe 4 brownies all in all. I had a normal afternoon and evening. Even the morning was shaping up nicely, took The Elder to school and then it hit me. BAMM! The Gluten Effect started in… as I was driving into work, I was feeling my eyes get heavy… very heavy. I made it in to work and sitting in my chair things began to dim. I’m not exactly sure how long I was out, but it must have been a while. I was dead to the world.

Once I was back in reality, things were fine and I didn’t feel tired or exhausted or bad at all. And so now, we’ll be in SC and there will be plenty of Gluten temptations around… I just know.