Ongoing Support

Hey Vase. We just got back from the YMCA. I take Jasmine to the pool for open swim on M,W,F. Her swim lesson was good this morning. She only has two more. I hope she can learn how to fully swim in those 2 left. I'm tired after sitting in the humid pool area for an hour. I'm rehydrating right now, drinking water.

I'm not looking forward to a potential bad period, ugh. I hope I just go through menopause and get it over with.

It must be really hot in Florida now. It's 76 here now, but we'll be having some 90 degree days coming up I saw in the forecast.

I've never been to Culver's. We have one in town. Tonight I'm doordashing Perkins dinner. It's pay day.

I don't exercise at the Y yet, but I may start once this injection kicks in. My swimsuit should be delivered on Tuesday.

I am so sorry that you had to go through that. People so misunderstand kids with autism and blame their parents. I agree that you should keep going anyway. The CPS person is on your side and that is what matters. You continuing to go will prove to the person that reported you that they are in the wrong, not you. You did nothing to deserve what you got and you have nothing to be ashamed of. The only way that person can learn more about autism is to be more exposed to it. You are a great mom in a difficult situation. I would not be nearly as patient as you are.

I am getting frustrated myself dealing with my parents. My dad won't eat anymore. When you ask him to explain why he doesn't know. But he wants to keep living. But he has already been hospitalized once. So I am probably headed over to see them tomorrow and try to get him into assisted living. My mother is yelling at him quite a bit because she doesn't want him to die, but it is making things worse. I am hoping that I can get them to some kind of calmer spot again. We will see.

No real improvement with my dad, so my worry is increasing. My sister lives in England and she may have to come over soon. I am not looking forward to that because she tends to make things much more intense. But she may be the only one to convince him to eat again.

Anyway, it does sound like a good month of July for you. I am glad that the diet continues to go well in terms of eating only at meals. We had a nice sausage, rice, tomato, onion, and green pepper skillet tonight. I used vegetarian sausage so it was pretty healthy.

I am going to try to make bread tomorrow which won't be healthy, but I am hoping that the focus will keep away the panic. We will also go out walking.

My sister could very well help. We will see. She drives me nuts, but she gets along very well with my father. But I am not going to go over while she is there because no one needs that tension and stress, especially me. I can go over afterwards.

My son did like the mini cake. I will do a bigger party for him on Sunday. It is very hot here (to the point of heat advisories), but I do get out walking daily. I wish that I had time to get in the water somewhere or had an indoor pool membership.

But I had a friend that I hadn't heard from in a long time suddenly ask to go out for coffee early next week. So that will be nice.

It sounds like you needed a day of rest after the birthday. I am glad that you liked the movie in spite of the length. That your daughter made it through is a solid victory.

Sorry about your mom. I totally get how you are feeling with the up and down of the journey.

My father is at a different part of that journey but he has lots of good days followed by bad days. My sister flew in from the United Kingdom today to be with him and try to get him to eat. I don't think that she will succeed either, but she needed to see for herself where he was at and how hard all of us were trying. He does eat a few bites of every meal and that counts for something. But all the back and forth with her (she is quite forceful), emailing all my other relatives, and dealing with the other mini crisis points has completely drained me. Last night it was a call from the nurses saying Dad needed Tylenol and mom hadn't provided any. She wasn't answering her phone because she was asleep and they were getting ready to call an ambulance so he could go to the emergency room for Tylenol. I basically had to tell him to grin and bear it. He managed to do that so I didn't have to drive the 3 hours to be go over to be with him. But I didn't sleep.

Hopefully we will both sleep well tonight and be ready for our adventures tomorrow.

You are doing a great job with trying to manage the diet. You did do stuff today so that counts. You might be able to convince your daughter to help you with the bed. Pouring gallons is much harder than bed making. She is definitely tall enough. You can pull one side and she can pull the other. She could also handle straightening pillows. If she does half of it for a bit then she will be able to work her way up to all of it.

Sometimes you have to push. I found out today that my dad is enjoying assisted living because they do everything for him. He is getting rather lazy, but my sister was able to get him up and out walking again. We are all going to work on him hard to get him moving because it isn't healthy for him otherwise.

We don't have to go anywhere besides walking out our door for fireworks. In the south, everyone sets them off from their backyards. It is totally unsafe, but luckily none were too close this year.

Sausage biscuits are good. You can also switch out the sausage in the biscuit for turkey sausage or even vegetarian sausage. I would try the turkey first. There is not really any difference in taste, especially with the turkey.

Yes, I would add the broccoli into the crock pot pretty late - the last half hour, maybe 20 minutes. You could also do the broccoli quickly in the microwave and have it on the side. You just put it in a bowl with very little water and just do it for about 3 minutes.

You will figure out the food stuff slowly but surely.

Today has been a mixed bag for me. My sister in law, brother in law, and niece came over for dinner to celebrate my husband's birthday late. That was very nice. But I am still dealing a bunch with stuff for my parents and our neighbor came over and asked that a beautiful, giant tree in our yard be removed to that he could put in a concrete driveway. He is going to pay for the removal but I really love the tree. So I am pretty sad tonight.

I will admit that I do indeed eat some form of fruits and vegetables daily, especially with breakfast. I am really loving cherries at the moment. I am not perfect by a long shot, but each bit helps. Each change that you make helps. You can do this.

There will be other kinds of vegetable mixes that you like, I promise. I will help you find some. First of all the chicken cacciatore in the crockpot. Here is the recipe: https://www.themagicalslowcooker.com/slow-cooker-chicken-cacciatore/ It is easier than it looks with almost no need for you to be standing. Click the button at the top that says "jump to recipe". A few quick tips: watch that the chicken thighs are boneless and skinless (they are cheaper than chicken breast and have a bit more fat and flavor), diced tomatoes and tomato paste are both in cans (the can of tomato paste is very small), you can buy a box of chicken broth and use about 1/4 of it, grab a bit of precut up garlic near the onions (it is usually in a jar), if you don't like mushrooms that is okay to just keep them out but you can buy them already sliced, green pepper and onion you can buy cut up in little pieces or buy one and sit at the table to cut it yourself). Shove it all in the crockpot and stir it up. Serve it with rice. The easiest kind of rice is the Uncle Bens in a tight microwaveable bag. You just give it a few minutes and you are done on the rice.

I will probably make the chicken for my family on Thursday. I am doing a fish and vegetable thing tomorrow night. I will tell you how easy that is after I make it.

I know that it feels overwhelming. Little steps and you can do this. We will find you some easy things to get you started and then you can build up a small list of go to recipes.

Most definitely the med change. I wish that those were easier to adjust to. It makes everything else feel off. Summer does get long at points no matter what. But the baking camp is going to help with next week at least. As far as cooking goes just pick up some healthier TV dinner kinds of things for this week. There are a larger number of good ones now. Or if you go out to eat, think smoothies or something like that. Do be sure to remember that seeing water, being in water, and being in nature (even sitting outside) can help. I know all of that is really tough when the depression sets in. But a few minutes relief is better than nothing.

Our neighbor is very aware of how I feel. I texted him and told him that I felt he had destroyed our precious tree out of his own greed so he could raise the rent on the next people who move in there. I also said that I didn't really want to be contacted by him again and to never expect anything else from us. He offered to plant another tree for us and I basically said no way. He can't get out of his own guilt by buying us off. He thinks we are crazy then fine. We have done all that we can.