Christmases Past

This makes the 2nd Christmas in my new relationship. Between us we have 6 kids we buy for so it is an expensive and broke Christmas for us and unlike the kids we could care less about the holiday rolling around. It just means more brokeness in our future especially with 3 teenagers! Yes, 3 teenagers 2 tweens and one toddler. 

Last year our Christmas for the kids was decent but our decorations were lacking. 

This year Things need to change! This small thing was only up a few days before the former room-mates cat attacked it. 

The question for all of you I have is, would it be tacky if I asked for all my Christmas Decor back that I had in my previous marriage?  Or should we just start a new? Together? I asked my significant other what he thought of this. His opinion is get the stuff back. Its just a tree and such. Less money we have to spend. 

Oh what to do??

Eco-Friendly Wool Dryer Balls (Woolzies)

I have a child with sever allergies such as eczema and to certain fragrances and such. I am always on the look out for allergen free or fragrance free. When I came across the opportunity to review this product I jumped on it. 

They are said to reduce static, reduce drying time and do everything a conventional fabric softener will do. I have found this all to be true. First thing you would think 6 balls in a dryer would make horrible noise. Wrong, they are actually pretty quiet. I mean you can tell there is something else in the dryer other than clothing but you can not tell it is 6 balls! 

My sons skin does not break out by using these. He does break out if I use any sort of dryer sheet or softener that has any sort of fragrance or color so that is an A+ on my end. If my son can handle it will be used again. 

Yes it does reduce static. I despise static! Not being able to use my traditional fabric softeners or dryer sheets static in our clothes was horrible. The first thing I washed and dried to just to try out this theory on the static was my fleece blanket. You should know as well as I am but these are like a home for static. HaHa I was so happy. Barely any static. Another win win for me!

The other thing was decreasing drying time. I set my dryer on timer with everything, 60 minutes and more times than not they are never completely dry and I have to run it for another 30 minutes. Since I have started using Woolzies Dryer Balls I only have to do the 60 minutes. 

Good news, this product is supposed to last up to 1,000 loads. Now I have not dried that many loads yet so I can not say whether or not that is true but so far this is a product that I recommended for anyone. 

Please visit Woolzies Dryer Balls to make your purchase today!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Happy Homemake Monday--August 20th 2013

This Monday was the start of a new school year for the kiddos. I guess its not a huge deal around here considering my Logan goes year round and our 15 year old that lives with us started today. So far it has been quiet. Nothing to special or out of the ordinary. Just one of the first days I have actually had a morning to myself. Just me. 

I hope you join the rest of us for Happy Home-maker Monday. It is a fun post and I like to join every week (when I can). You can find it on my links page.

Anyway on to it

The Weather: We are still having an unseasonably cool August Summer. Yesterday it barely made 80 and today we are looking at 77 at the moment. This brings me to something I seen on some classified ads. It was a pool that was for sale and it stated "Do not use it as much as I thought" well no crap, we have barely had a summer, of course you have not used it much. I myself have missed my pool. I have not been in it in over two weeks. I could have gotten that tattoo I wanted :-)

Right Now I Am: Sitting in silence typing up this post. Well besides all the noises I can hear outside. Sometimes I do enjoy the silence. No t.v.!! I can concentrate and think much better this way.

On My Reading Pile: Nothing. I am not into novels but I can tell you what tabs are open on my pc as of right now. Blogger dashboard, Diary of A Stay At Home Mom, and season 3 episode 6 of the walking dead just begging to be watched.

On My T.V.: As stated above, nothing, nadda, zip, zilch. Just a black screen

On The Menu For This Week:
Chicken and more Chicken, my honey has some recipe he is going to do that he swears is really good called Mayo Chicken. Sounds kind of gross to me but I will give it a shot. I also have him talked into trying this recipe I found called spinach and pepperjack chicken. You can find the recipe HERE but I have asked him to take out the cajun seasoning and add something else. I am not a fan of spicy. Neither is my body

On My To Do List: Oh I am not so sure. Get organized some more :-) I am some what OCD when it comes to certain things and tomorrow I have a conference with Logans school so I am sure I will have more paperwork to organize considering I want copies of everything such as evaluations and his IEP

In My Craft Basket: Embroidery Floss as always. I am steadily working on all these friendship bracelets that I hope to sell for purposes of donating the money to Logans school and other local programs that help children with special needs. If you would like to check out our online store please do so and make your purchase!! 
Arkansas Riders For Autism--Storenvy

Looking Around The House: Ugh did I really have to do that? Pile of laundry that needs to be folded and put away sitting on the recliner. I despise laundry and want to avoid it like the plague. Then I see my girls (dogs, missy, Zuri and Lola) just being lazy mutts and resting. 

From The Camera: I thought it would be fun to post the very last picture I took or saved from my phone. I have not had the Nikon out lately. Just use my phone constantly. 

My sweet little Logan waiting for his bus this morning for another fun filled day at his school with lots of therapy and play time!

Everyone have a wonderful Monday and feel free check out some of these other websites to benefit myself and others
My Facebook Fan Page
Arkansas Riders for Autism
Our Online Store

Some People Are Not Cut Out For This and Some Are

I hear people say all the time how hard it is to be an austim parent. I guess it is to a point but I thoroughly enjoy my ASD son and some days are harder than others but most of my days have been fairly simple. Then I get to thinking, maybe I was cut out for this, maybe my son was meant for me for a reason, maybe some parents can not handle having a child with special needs. 

My ex husband (Logans Dad) I think has a hard time with it more than I do. Even though he only sees him one weekend out of every two or three months. He tells me how he can not even take him to a restaurant or certain stores because he has fits. I myself don't see this. We have no trouble out of Logan going out to most public places. When we do attend a restaurant we request sitting in the back and try to be away from the crowd because Logan has a tendency to throw things. When he is happy he screams and flaps his arms. This to me is acceptable. More than an unhappy child. His father can not even handle this. He says its rude and will disturb other people. I have caught myself apologizing to other people when he does this just because of how Logans father would be. I have never gotten someone being upset about it. Usually people tell me its just fine. Its music to their ears to hear a happy baby. And Logan is happy most of the time. Or at least with me. When I was with his father he would get embarrassed about Logans loud noises. It really hurt me and caused problems in our marriage with the way he was with Logan or about Logans behavior. 

Now my Eric (my fiance) is so caring when it comes to Logan. He knows how to handle it. He loves hearing Logans screams of happiness and could care less if he does this in public. He is happy that he is happy! 

Logan and I are both so lucky to have him in our life!

Arkansas Riders For Autism Online Store

I have been so caught up in doing other things that I have neglected my blogging duties. I have several reviews coming up that I need to post and possibly another giveaway? My last one did not do so well :( only ended up with 26 entries. I get discouraged sometimes with blogging that I do tend to neglect it. By that I am meaning by not seeing my followers go up in numbers or my comments being empty. I get sad and move on to other things. 

In the light of things I have now opened up an online store. This store is for bracelets that the S.O. and I make. 80% of the proceeds go to helping our local special needs school. My son attends one that does so much for the kids that I think it would be nice if some regular people such as myself could help them out financially. Getting started is the hard part. I'm trying to get stock built up so that way we can attend flea markets and craft fairs. 

This started out as my honey and I wanting to start some sort of riding group. We are motorcycle enthusiasts and love to ride, problem is that all the clubs around here are not what we are looking to join except maybe with the exception of BACA which is Bikers Against Child Abuse. We decided to set up our own group. Not a club but a group of riders who are wanting to give to the local schools, charities, therapies etc.. We came up with Arkansas Riders for Autism. 

This is our own design and hopefully in the near future we will be wearing these patches proudly. It is slow going when you have limited funds. We are slowly getting started, hoping others will want to join us and help the special needs children and schools. Funds are limited so it is very very slow going. 

If you would like to check out our work and online store please do so!!! And make a purchase. We make everything we sell. 

80% of the proceeds will go to our local community schools that help children with special needs such as the one my little Logan attends. They do so much for the kids its time someone gives back. So go check it out and support this cause!! It will make you feel good. I promise

Arkansas Riders For Autism Online Store

You can also find our FB page 

HERE

W/W Our First "Couple Picture"

Another Wordless Wednesday. A couple of weekends ago Eric and I had our first couples pictures done. I believe it was time. We have been together almost a year. I usually do not smile in pictures because I hate my smile and I think I just look goofy, but this man puts a smile on my face I can not hide. 

Wordless Wednesday Links

CLICK ME

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Happy Homemaker Monday/Last Day To Enter Giveaway

Another Monday. I have been neglecting my blog for the last week but I will get to that in another post as to why. It is for a good reason. Good thing I dont have a lot going on in my blogging world to have to play catch up. 

The Weather... Right now it is a nice 82 degrees here in Arkansas. Very Very unusual for July! Last year we were above 100. Makes me wonder what the winter will bring. Going my history and patterns it will or can be I should say, a bad winter. 

Right Now I Am...Sitting in my spot on my couch and have a dogs paw stuck in my upper back. My dog Missy (chihuahua) likes to sit on top of the couch directly behind me. 

On My Reading Pile...I am not much of one to read. I do read a lot of internet articles so the tabs open on my computer are some tutorials on some bracelets I am putting together. 

On My T.V...Right now, Borderlands 2 is being played. The oldest boy claims he has not gotten to play the xbox 360 much on his own lately so he wanted to play while his dad is at work and before he takes it over.

What I found While Surfing The Net...As I mentioned above I am searching for tutorials on bracelets and came across this awesome site with over 26,000 patterns for bracelets. The site is friendship-bracelets.net

Whats On The Menu For This Week...Chicken, Chicken and more Chicken

On My To-Do-List...My most dreaded chore, laundry!!

Looking Forward To This Week...Nothing spectacular going on around here

Looking Around The House...Man I need to sweep something awful. Guess that goes on the to-do-list

From The Camera...Unfortunately I have not broke out the camera at all for awhile but always taking pictures from my phone. Here is Logan waiting for the bus this morning. He got super excited when he seen her pulling up the drive this morning. 

To Join Happy Homemaker Monday click 

HERE

Today is the last day to enter into the giveaway that I am having for some all natural pain relief cream

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Don't forget this giveaway

Please enter!!!!!

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Autism Bracelet??

Here lately I have been having an un-accomplished feeling, like I have done absolutely nothing. Yeah, that feeling sucks. 

My SO and I have thought about starting a riding group where we raise money for the local special schools around in our area that are dedicated to autism. My son attends one of these schools. It is slow going. Finding other people who want to be involved is not an easy task, so we are just going to tackle things on our own. 

First things first. We have thought about selling something that is geared towards awareness. 

Since I have had this feeling of un-accomplishedness (yes a Melissaism) I decided to make a bracelet. You remember the ones we would make in school for our friends? Im not very talented so I thought I would try this again after many years of not doing it and just adding puzzle piece charms to it. Here is the finished product. It only took me about two hours to do it. Not long at all.

Hmm I wonder if anyone would want to buy something like this for the proceeds to go to a great cause? Helping our local schools and organizations for autism. 
I actually ended up wearing this as an anklet. To big for me as a bracelet. I have small wrists.

If you would be interested in checking out the facebook page for Arkansas Riders for Autism you can check it out HERE

DONT FORGET ABOUT MY GIVEAWAY, ENTER HERE PLEASE PLEASE

To check out who I am linking up with this beautiful Friday click HERE

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND

My First Giveaway

I am very happy to announce that I am hosting my very first giveaway! I have never done this before so please be patient with me. This is a huge step for me and I am totally excited about it. 

There will 2 winners!

My very first giveaway is for Noxicare Pain Relief Cream

Noxicare™ Natural pain relief is a breakthrough natural, patented pain relief formula that is a proprietary combination of 7 of the world’s most potent natural pain relievers that quickly and effectively alleviate inflammation, muscle aches and nerve pain (burning feet)—with NO known side effects and without a prescription

To enter the giveaway please enter through the rafflecopter and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Late Bus and Thomas The Train

The last couple of days have been pretty un-eventful, which is the way I like it! Tuesday morning Logans bus to school was late. They are supposed to let us know if they are to be more than 20 minutes but of course we did not get that call and Logan and Eric were getting very impatient.

So Eric asks the person on the bus, not the driver but the one who buckles all the kids in if she could call us...Her short snappy answer, no, I dont have service on my phone. What??? What sense does this make?

So we call the director and get the response "I will have a talk with them". 

Almost 20 minutes late today as well with no call. I guess I will just make it the new time he will get picked up from now on. I do not want to cause a fuss over 20-30 minutes. Now if I can convince Eric the same we will be good.

Today was wal-mart day and it is Logans favorite place to be. Now one of Logans obsessions is Thomas the Train. He loves him. I have been seeing the pillow pals for sale at $25 but have been eyeing them over the last couple of weeks and the price dropped to $10. I had to get it before there were no more. 

I think he approved. I could tell by his smile and his happy yelling!

!

Wordless Wednesday with Explanation

Its that time again for Wordless Wednesday Link ups. You can Click HERE to find the link ups!

This time I have to put an explanation on the photo, well just because I think it needs it.

 Feet are just disgusting to me as well as to my Eric. That is why I had to snap this picture when I realized what we were doing. Holding Feet!!! Both of us were busy on our phones and so we could not hold hands so instead we were holding feet. Not even realizing it. 

If you want to join up with the Wordless Wednesday Link ups click HERE to find a list of them. 

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Monday Night Battle

Tonight Logan has decided to fight his sleep. It's not to common for him to do this because we usually have melatonin on hand but unfortunately we are out. Tonight has been rough one. Bed time is at 8 and someone is still awake. 

Oh yes so instead of me trying to let him cry it out I went and got him to cuddle and rock him. In the process I got bit. Yup he bit me. This has become a more frequent re-occurrence. Now I have to figure out how to get my non-verbal autistic son to understand biting is not acceptable. 

OUCH!

Understand The Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS)

Yesterday I finally got my sons evaluation scores back. In reality you know what they will say and expect to see the low scores but seeing it on paper just kind of makes it more surreal. That is if you can understand the things. 

They used the CARS-The Childhood Autism Rating Scale

Here they evaluate the child on 15 areas

• Relating to people
• Imitation
• Emotional response
• Body use
• Object use
• Adaptation to change
• Visual response
• Listening response
• Taste, smell, and touch response and use
• Fear or nervousness
• Verbal communication
• Nonverbal communication
• Activity level
• Level and consistency of intellectual response
• General impressions

The child is then scored on a scale of 1-4 on each of these tasks, half points are also rewarded. 

1 is normal for the childs age

2 is mildly abnormal

3 is moderately abnormal

4 is severely abnormal

After this they total it all up. The scores range from 15 to 60 30 being the cutoff range. Scores 30 to 37 indicates Mild to Moderate Autism, 38 to 60 is indication of Severe Autism.

 My son scored a 43.5 which placed him in the moderately to severe. General impression scored 3 which is Moderate Autism

Then here it is, in black and white--Logan exhibits the symptoms consistent with the diagnosis of 299.00 Autistic disorder (per DSM-5 299.00 Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 2). 

This is not the only test they administered but I guess it is the one that plays the main factor in a diagnosis.  Logan needs a lot of speech therapy because he is non-verbal and this made a difference in his scores. 

Our next step is to fill out an application for the Autism Waiver Program for more therapies in the home. He will receive those and the ones at school as well, that is if he is approved. (keep fingers crossed) 

It seems like a lot of therapies but early intervention is important. Maybe someday Logan will find his voice. 

Wordless Wednesday 7/10/13

Wordless Wednesday is by far one of the biggest hops I have seen so far. There are so many of them. I have some that I do link up with posted in my blog hops tab. Feel free to link up as well! 

On to my Wordless Wednesday Picture of the Week
By the way feel free to follow my facebook fan page. I post giveaways, updates and recipes and fun and cute photos at time and advocate for autism. Check it out--------->

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Macro Monday 2

Found out on our hike to Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas

Macro Monday 2

Increase Traffic To My Blog(I need pointers)

So here it is, it has been two years or so since I started blogging. At least I think. I have spent all day today trying to figure out how to increase traffic to my blog. 

I participate in blog hops, comment on others I have a pinterest, facebook and twitter. I have opened an account with link referal. 

So fellow bloggers what else is there that I can do to increase more traffic? What are some things you do to increase your blogs? 

The best ones I have found are the blog hops and of course link referal I have received ratings on the site. Pretty cool. It started out rough because I had some issues where my link was broken but I got it fixed and got things rolling. 

Here is the link if you would like to give it a shot

Linkreferral

All suggestions I am open to and please share in the comments so others can see as well. 

Thank you to my readers who do follow. 

Sunday Social 7/7/13

This week I decided to skip out on the Sunday Scavenger hunt and just do the Sunday Social. I do not believe I have ever done this link up before so it may or may not produce results. I am a little late on it. After all it is almost Monday. So here we go.

1. What is the best trip you have ever been on?

I have not been on many trips ever. Just to Florida which I did not like. I was ready to come home and was crying before our 5 nights were up. The best food I ate was walking a mile from the motel or hotel, whatever, the fountain blue in Miami to the KFC! I got severely sun burned the first day we were there so I set it up for the most horrible rest of the week. 

2.What is your best idea for a girls weekend?

I got nothing. I can not imagine going anywhere without my kids or at least my significant other. I have never taken off for a girls weekend. My friends have but they all seem to go off to Vegas. A little to rich for my blood. I would get into some trouble. 

3.What is your best idea for a couples trip?

My honey and I have had the best trip to Eureka Springs Arkansas. We rented a cottage for two nights with a jacuzzi hot tub, champagne and roses. We went shopping, out to eat and took the ghost tour at the Crecent Hotel as well as horseback riding. It was wonderful.

4.What is the best vacation on the cheap?

HaHa nothing is cheap these days! But I would suggest just getting on the bike (motorcycle) and just driving and getting a cheap old hotel somewhere to rest then go on. This is something we do plan on doing on some kid free weekend. 

5.What is the place you most want to visit?

There are two on my list. Australia and Egypt. I have no idea as to why considering both are pretty hot climates and I am not a fan of heat. I am miserable in anything about 85 degrees. 

Linking up with

Bloglovin' Issue? No Meltdowns At the Display

One of the hardest things I have discovered about blogging is not the writing one or coming up with a subject (there are plenty of hops out there that help with this) but its the coming up with a title. So I do apologize if my titles are somewhat cheesy but I just try to give it a small summary on the subject.

Anyway I have started using bloglovin' a lot more lately but have realized that my blogs are not being updated there? I have searched the FAQ page and can not find a solution. My RSS feed is valid so I have no idea. I emailed customer support days ago and still have heard nothing. Anyone else experiencing any of these issues or know what to do about it?

Our Fourth of July was a pretty good day. Started out normal and slow but that is the way a mother likes it. Most of the time. My SO (significant other) and I got into the pool for awhile and it was nice to play around and relax in there just him and I. It was to cold to bring out Logan. 

We all ate dinner then went off to a fireworks display. Logan enjoyed his time at the park but he was not a fan of the fireworks. 

I had to keep his eyes covered the entire time or he got upset. On the brightside, no meltdowns. I don't know why he could not watch them or why they appeared scary to him. He may be to sensitive to those sort of lights?? I have no idea.  Any answers to the parents with autistic children??

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The Eve of The 4th

Its the day before the big blow out!! Hope you all have better plans than we do. We will just be hanging out at home. Nothing special. Maybe make it a pool day. Spend all day in the pool, throw some chicken into the crockpot with bbq sauce and let it cook all day. Later in the night when it gets dark we will attend a fireworks display. I am hoping Logan will be able to handle it. It may be to loud for him though. His first year he slept through it. Last year I had to hold him the entire time and walk far away then he was okay. I guess we will be in for a surprise this year.

Today was just a normal day. Started off getting Logan ready for school and in order to get some cooperation I have to turn the t.v. on every morning. If I do not do this he cries the entire time. At least when the t.v. is on he will smile and let me get him dressed.

 Focused on that t.v.

I get my baby off to school and nap!! Best part of the day. Pretty much all I did besides the normal house work and taking a small minute to myself in the pool. 

Best investment I have made

Foot shot!

My honey should be home from work soon. My night will be complete when that happens. Tonight was also a leftover night. I don't like to cook much. 

Everyone enjoy your holiday!!

 Dont forget to follow me on Facebook and Bloglovin', click on the buttons on the sidebar. 

Wordless Wednesday 7/2/13

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Wordless Wednesday

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