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Barb, he is in developmental preschool to continue speech therapy. He hasn't been fully evaluated yet, soon we hope. I have not heard about RDI and is that something insurance would be used or is it through school districts. I'll have to see if Idaho has it available. Thank you for the info!!
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Great idea Barb! I know a family who has made great progress with their son with RDI strategies. Totally forgot about it. Google it Sharyn!
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Sharyn; What kind of therapy has your grandson been approved for? Is he attending a special preschool, or is he in a regular preschool with services added on?

Google "RDI". It's a therapy that addresses the social and pragmatic language difficulties that children on the Autism Spectrum face.
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Thank you Send! I know you are a wealth of information. I have to look at the situation different, not based on my type of happiness and what I would want for him within personal relationships.

Upset, thank you, it is encouraging to hear this about your sons friend. E is very spacial, he lines up his toys in straight lines equally distanced apart. He will actually get down on the floor and look at the lines of toys he placed and will adjust them accordingly.

I love this little guy and he has his moments where he opens up completely and will talk and talk.
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Sharon, I can understand your sadness. There was a special needs little boy in my son's room from 3rd thru 12 grade. He parallel played and had other special characteristics. He liked sports cards starting in about 6th grade. He and my son became friends in his own way. He came to our house frequently to sit and play alone with sports cards. He and my son would sit for hours on a Saturday afternoon not saying anything. I asked my son and he told me; he's playing; I know what he wants. I never did figure out their communications. They're both 40 now and still stay in contact. He's married to a woman he met in school who is very much the same. They have a daughter who is 8 and a chatterbox. My son and his family spent some time with them last summer. He says he still knows what his friend wants. His friend runs a large sports collectible store and is very successful. There are many special people who live happy, productive lives in their own special way. Loving him as he is the very best thing you can do.
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SharynMarie,
The child is not sad. He is playing.
Some people call this differently abled.

The sadness is understandable, and I get it. Really, I do.

As long as we try and expect special needs persons to become like everyone else, we miss the Special in special.

He is playing, special.

I am sure this feeble attempt at encouragement does not cover all your sadness about E.
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I'm bummed out. My heart breaks for E. he will parallel play but won't play directly with the other children. He most often wanders off by himself. My dd is very sad.
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Glad, We're not wealthy, but we've both tried to be careful about money. PJ played 14 years in the NFL. He held on as long as he could to build his pension and to get their health insurance. Then he spent 7 years working in the NFL organization. I have a settlement from a drug that I given that causes permanent kidney disease and I've saved it for long term term. Plus I have pension and retirement plan. We both have paid for long term care insurance. It's a tough world when you get old and I've tried to prepare. I think because we neither wanted our children to have to take care of us. Of course, one can never tell what will happen.
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Upset, wonderful that you both are setup well. With caregivers this is often not the case. When my mom and L married, mom was 80 and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's a couple of years before. The first signs were her forgetting to pay bills, etc. So, L started paying for everything. He had a great pension from the federal government, mom's income was not even half as much. TS's thought this was great as mom's assets continued to grow as she was not spending any money.

Long story short, L's assets had diminished to half of what they were when they married over the course of six years. Nobody, including mom and L understood that if his assets ran out, then mom would have had to pay for his care from her funds until she was down to what Medicaid allows the community spouse.

L did not live enough for this to become an issue because of his federal retirement. When they married they both thought that their assets were safe from each other in case of escalating medical needs and expense. Both thought that a prenuptial agreement would take care of it.

Unfortunately, the majority of us would have to be very careful about these financial issues if we were to decide to marry.

So, congratulations again, upset. Your long term relationship with PJ is a very good indicator of a long and happy married life. Best wishes to you both.
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I don't want to live with all the negativity regarding my family and having 6 years of 24/7 with my mom and her demands and narc behavior. I don't want to think only negative thoughts about my deceased brother and his family. I've tried saying I forgive you outloud. I've tried writing it down. I've tried pretending I'm calling them on the phone. So far I don't feel much. I've tried trying to write down things that they did that were nice. For Mom I can say that she enjoyed spending time with my grandchildren, especially my granddaughter. She liked that Em shared her love of jewelry, having her ears pierced twice and her love of chocolate. I know that she enjoyed taking me shopping all my life, especially for shoes and handbags. So I guess that's something. My brother and his family I can think of nothing. It's an empty feeling.

PJ and I were thinking getting married at town hall. Just us. It now appears the wedding planners (approx 36 of them) have decided we need to go to Vegas to get married the weekend before Thanksgiving; followed by a honeymoon in CA at Disneyland with all of them going along. Can you imagine? They probably want an Elvis impersonator to perform the ceremony. 
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Ali, Love Taxco silver. I don't collect. Have a pair of earrings and a bracelet. In grad school I managed the museum shop at Hudson Museum. We had jewelry from many southwest Native American tribes and also from Mexico and Central American (mostly pre-Columbian styles. It was a non-profit museum and shop merchandise had to reflect the collections. I'm a total jewelry junkie (the one way I am truly like my mother). And my granddaughter shares the love of jewelry. When Mom was living one of the only things she truly enjoyed was dressing up Em up in her jewelry. A 5-yr old decked out in diamonds. I know what you mean about collecting...it can take control of your house. PJ says it's the easiest the thing about me - need a gift for me - buy me some jewelry.
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Stacey, thinking of you and family too!!
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Cograts to you Upset!! Such good news in these often gloomy days!
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Wow!! Autocorrect changed some words, should have buster, dang
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WHAT??!!! Upset, congrats!! I missed your announcement. I so happy for you!! Your history together is a great start!

Ali, I am so happy with your plans. Measuring and keeping some family heirlooms to use in your new place!! So exciting!!

Golden, keeping you in my thoughts and prayers re the cataract surgery. I'm happy to hear your tests went well and the results.

Margeaux, good to hear from you. Hoping all is progressing as you work through BC.

Temps here have finally dropped to a comfortable high 60's-mid 70's. On and off showers today with predictions for winter to be a repeat of last year. Bil will be arriving late tomorrow for the weekend. Other than that not to much going on unless you want to include chasing toddlers and puppy. Bust is a joy with much work. He is so darn cute and as sweet as can be. How can one resist his sweet face, eyelashes and excitement when he sees you.

Autumn is slowly coming along, hope everyone is enjoying pleasant temps!!
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Thanks everyone. I'm excited but realistic. My brother is very happy. He's never married, but always wanted a big family. He's always happy to be in with all of PJ's tribe. He's acquired a couple of golfing buddies and has joined a volleyball team with them. He grew up almost like an only child being so much younger than me and my other brother. My son and his family are pleased, especially my oldest grandson. He met PJ's 12-yr old grandson a couple of years ago and they are buddies. My granddaughter is happy about the wedding - she thinks she's the wedding planner. But then she said "oh no, all those boys". Again, thank you for all the good wishes.
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Trust sent over an Estate Appraiser this morning to ... appraise the estate. It's funny to me they would do this NOW, after I've been living here 6 years. I had left the man to do his thing and was sitting at my desk in basement when I heard his footsteps stop for a good minute so I went up to see what had caught his attention. It was my 8oz sterling (better than sterling, actually, it's .970) Taxco necklace! I said "Oh, that's mine!" lol And I explained that I was the Taxco collector of the family, that I'd lived here 6 years and so my things were intertwined with other "estate" things. Appraiser did find a box of vintage cufflinks, all costume pieces but very nice, that I'd forgotten about. I'll give them to my dad and to my brothers to take some pieces as they want to, let them donate the rest.

The new Trustee told me that there is a board meeting about my receipts on the 28th. Fingers crossed that they agree I am owed reimbursement.

I go to measure the new place today around 6pm. I want to know the wall lengths to know what I can get into the new place and how it will be arranged. I'm trying to avoid any need for storage of the few heirloom pieces of furniture that I want to keep. I've decided that my more contemporary (but not at all sentimental) furniture currently in storage can be sold/discarded and I'll utilize my grandparents' pieces instead. Trying to sort out how it will all work...

And I'm going on some dates, and meeting some men, talking to a couple of people from online dating. All of it -- wrapping up the house, moving to the new place, dating -- it's all a process and I hope that my efforts mean that SOMETHING comes from all this lol. The caregiving life feels like a never ending To Do list. :-/

I want to put Career Goals into the mix but for right now I've decided to work on the move. When I get to the city, there will be a world of new employment opportunities available to me. In the meantime, I've found a very agreeable way to sell some Taxco. Silver is down right now but this particular consigner's market visibility is very good, and pieces fetch a good enough price to warrant the 60/40 split. I have much to "liquidate." I've seen where endless collecting leads to and I'm moving towards a more minimal life.

It's all good stuff though I do feel I'm plodding along at snail's pace.

How are you guys today? Hope everyone has a great day!
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upset -congratulations. I am so happy for you and pj. I think you are a terrific couple and have a great history behind you which spells success to me. I know together you will work out the logistics. I wish you both all the best the world has to offer. You deserve it.

tg - nothing has changed. I think I would speak to dad and tell him what he said that was hurtful.

Thinking of veronica who is probably out of surgery by now. Hoping everything went OK.

Margeaux - good to hear from you. I have wondered how you are.

I called about the nailpolish and it is "in case something happens" as Veronica mentioned, to assess oxygenation. They said they would settle for a couple of toe nails without polish which I can do easily as they are not gel, just regular polish. 

Apologies if I have missed anyone - just a little "off" from the trip and upcoming surgery.

Sift intermittent rain and fall colouring in the trees - some of my favourite weather.
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I'm not going to be a killjoy! I'm idealistic and I love love!! 😍 Upset, I wish you much happiness and fun ferry adventures in your married life, whenever it commences. No, you're not getting any younger and I think your history with PJ is a good indicator that you can be great friends, which is so important to a marriage (in my never-married opinion lol). I'm SO happy for you and to get a pretty ring and all! I'm happy sighing for you lol.
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Glad, Thanks for the concern. We've both talked to attorney's. We're both good on financial planning - separately and together.
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Upset, not to be a kill joy, but I would check with an attorney about the financial implications of marrying later in life. Medicaid, if ever needed would have major financial impact on both of you should one of you become sick and need care. You each would be financially responsible for the other and prenups do not protect your assets in the eyes of Medicaid.
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Yes PJ. Kind of fast in a way, but we've been good friends since 8/87. My son and a couple of his kids have been friends since 6th grade. He was a homeroom "mother" for his son/my son's class a couple of years - kids all loved his cupcakes. Also was his freshman year football coach. So we have a good bit of history. I dated him for about 5 years 00-05. My Mom was a real issue at that time. A lot of details to figure out - but we're going to take the plunge. He's been divorced for about 30 years and I've been divorced for 26, so maybe it's time. We're not getting any younger.
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Yes, Glad bitter apple.
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Congrats upset! Is it PJ we have not heard much about him lately. That was fast!
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Golden and Veronica, I hope both of you have good results with your cataract surgery. I have an appointment with ophthalmologist in two weeks for my annual check up. I'm a diabetic, plus have strong family history of macular degeneration, so I go for annual visits. New doctor this year. My old doctor retired and his daughter took over his practice. I guess this is doctor month. Have appointments with my cardiologist, nephrologist and diabetic specialist who handles my neuropathy and foot checks. I'll be glad when all of my doc visits are over.

My big news is that I have had a formal marriage proposal - complete with ring. Apparently, he's been carrying the ring around for a few weeks. I said yes, but we haven't set a date. Lot of decisions on housing, etc. I've joked with him that I'd marry him for his good health insurance. He has one of those "Cadillac" Medicare supplement policies that his former employer will cover a spouse as well.
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Yes, it is!
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Isn't that a golden retriever in the YouTube video? What a cutie!
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Google "this dog loves going to the pet store". LOL!
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Glad, I think Sharyn means bitter apple, it's a deterrent spray for dogs and other animals. You use it when training.

I'm tired, too tired to compose much of a post. ;-) After my drive down yesterday I helped SIL and hung out with kids, then up at 4am my time this morning (just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, then kids were waking up an hour later, 6 their time), then drive back up, then pack up a bunch of china and other house stuff.  It's been a full day. Good night, all!
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Sharyn, butter apple?
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