Ambassador of Books ~ Book Club Madam ~ Blogger Gal

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

random updates

On Being Unemployed

I'm still getting used to this being at home without a job thing.  When I was working I was in front of my computer all day long and often had time to check my Google Reader to see what all of you were up to.  But being at home, I often don't check my Reader until late in the day, at which time there are hundreds of posts and I am too overwhelmed to read them.  To be honest, I've been clicking "Mark All As Read" more often than not. Sorry!


On Reading & Blogging

I am getting some reading in, but not a ton. I finished Towers of Midnight and Prisoners in the Palace. I'm still working on The Prince, and I've started The Last Town on Earth (which I promptly misplaced).  I'm also still listening to The Count of Monte Cristo.  I have absolutely NO motivation to review any of these books though, so I'll probably only do a quick paragraph for each ... eventually.

I may not be posting as much for the next few weeks, at least until I get myself onto a schedule. That goes for commenting as well.  I'm still here, I'm just trying to reorganize my life ... which is MUCH more complicated than I'd expected.


On Kiddo

Kiddo flew on a plane by himself for the first time on Tuesday.  His aunt and uncle wanted him to visit them in Boston for a few days then drive back to Maryland with them on Thanksgiving.  I gave him the choice - did he want to do it, or did he want to wait until next year?  (We fly all the time but he's never done it on his own.) He panicked a big at first but then decided he really wanted to go.  For the next few days he'd walk around singing "Shipping Up To Boston" at random times. The morning he left we had to be up at 4:30am to get to the airport by 5:30am.  He got nervous again just before he got on the plane and he almost started to cry, but we hugged and he took a deep breath and headed down the ramp.  The flight is only 1 hour 20 minutes and he told me later that everything went just fine.  He played his Nintendo DS almost the whole way there.  And get this - when the flight attendant said to turn off all electronic devices, he figured he'd better switch off his feeding tube as well (it's got an electric pump).  Hubby and I got a kick out of that one!  At the moment he's having fun with his aunt and uncle in Boston, getting to do pretty much whatever he wants to do.  What fun!


On Thanksgiving Food

I used to love Thanksgiving because of all the wonderful food but now it frustrates me because there is so little that Kiddo can eat. I mean, there's only so much you can do with eggs, rice, white potato, corn, carrots, broccoli, apples, grapes, peaches, mangoes, tapioca, and a little bit of shellfish.  For the longest time even the smell of the holiday food would make him sad.  I'm excited for this year though. At his last doctor's appointment the allergy and GI docs agreed that he could add in a few foods that he really wanted.  They have him trying bison meat (at least for now - the next test will probably prove it's bad for him, but he'll enjoy it until then) so he can have steaks, burgers, ribs, tacos, etc.- all of which he's really enjoying.  He also asked for cucumbers so he can eat dill pickles again.  We're going through a jar of pickles every few days now, and I LOVE it.  Another thing he wanted was lentils.  He used to like them years ago and I guess he figures he'll still like them now (who likes lentils?! certainly not me!).  And in a few weeks they'll let him try berries again, though he's not excited about that AT ALL - he never was a fan of berries. 

All that to say that THIS Thanksgiving I'm excited because Kiddo will get a real meal of things he actually wants to eat. AND he told me that he's looking forward to all the smells because they remind him of the foods he used to eat and love, and they bring back good memories.  Can I just tell you how much I love my Kiddo?! HE TOTALLY ROCKS.


I hope all of you are doing well. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving this week enjoy your day! If not, enjoy your day anyway! Hopefully I'll be back and involved in the blogging world really soon. :)

23 comments:

Amy said...

Wow a lot going on there. Best of luck and I hope you get a schedule soon. Very cool about Kiddo flying alone AND being able to try more foods!

Ti said...

I missed the news about you being unemployed. Sounds like you are adjusting okay but I know it must be rough at times.

Kiddo! He's always such a trooper. Although it was confirmed (finally) that I do not have EE, I am still not allowed to eat a ton of foods so I feel his pain. My diet isn't quite as strict as his but finding stuff that does not have preservatives, wheat or soy can be a challenge too. However, I plan to eat what I want tomorrow and just take lots of benadryl and zyrtec.

Happy Thanksgiving!

marie said...

Hi Heather,
Popping by to say Happy Thanksgiving to one of my favorite families. How exciting to read that kiddo will have a wonderful meal this year and that he'll be enjoying all the yummy smells. He is an amazing little boy!!
I hope he's having a blast in Boston and I'm so glad to hear of his solo flight! Too funny about the feeding tube!

I'm sorry to hear about the unemployment situation...I'll sure be praying that the Lord brings along the perfect job!!

Have a wonderful Turkey day!!! Tell kiddo that I hope he enjoys his feast...even the lentils! : )

bermudaonion said...

Kiddo does rock - he is one tough kid!! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Amanda said...

I like lentils!! Actually most of my family does. If they're cooked right. :D

Have a happy thanksgiving Heather!!

Meghan said...

I missed your earlier post about being unemployed - I'm so sorry to hear that it's happened to you. =( I hope you find something new and soon. I'm glad Kiddo finally gets to eat some nice things about Thanksgiving - I can't imagine how tough it is for him to miss out on so much. I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Amy said...

Good luck on finding a job soon, Heather. I totally know what you mean about the schedule.

Anonymous said...

Lentil soup can be very yummy, I promise. The trick is to cook the lentils for forever. :-D

And hooray for kiddo! Wishing you guys a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Amy - Thanks!

Ti - I'm glad that you don't have EE, but did they figure out what you DO have? I hope you're able to enjoy Thanksgiving without the Benadryl knocking you out. :)

Marie - Thanks so much. I just talked to Kiddo and he's having a GREAT time! I'll let him know you said hello.

bermudaonion - Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.

Amanda - My parents and sister like lentils too, but I could never get into them. Still, I'm happy Kiddo likes them. :)

Meghan - Thanks so much. The unemployment thing was a bit shocking but we're making the best of it - Kiddo's really enjoying the fact that I'm home on his days off school!

Amy - Yeah, I know you know what it's like. :) I'm sure I'll get it together soon!

softdrink - So it sounds like I'll be slaving away over the stove tomorrow cooking lentils all day, huh? LOL

Michelle said...

Kiddo does rock! Kudos to him for flying solo and for being such a wonderfully thoughtful boy.

Happy holiday to you and your family!

Ryan said...

I hope you get settled down to a routine soon. I know how stressful it can be to have things like that happen and then be stuck having to change your life to work around that.

I'm so glad kiddo had fun, Aidan flew by himself last year and he loved it. Now if we talk about flying somewhere he wants to take seperate flights, not going to happen.

I hope you guys have a wonderfuly blessed Thanksgiving.

By the way, I love lentils. Lentils over cooked pasta (small shells or maccaroni) with a little olive oil and freshly grated parmesean. Yummy!

Trisha said...

Kiddo is awesome! I love that he took a deep breath and moved on from the nerves. Sounds just like my niece! When she has to do something stressful, she does the same thing! She breathes so deep her shoulders actually shrug. :)

Nicole (Linus's Blanket) said...

Happy Thanksgiving Heather! I am glad that Kiddo had some stuff to look forward to today.

Jenny Girl said...

I did not know you had lost your job Heather. I am very sorry to read that. You sound as though you have a good attitiude about it though, all thiongs considered, so hopefully you will find something else soon. Fingers crossed.

Your son's first solo flight went so well. What a great son you have raised there. You should be proud. Glad to read about the slow food introduction and hope everything works out with that also. Happy thanksgiving and have a wonderful holiday season :)

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Michelle - Thanks, and to you as well!

Ryan G - That's HILARIOUS that Aidan wants to fly on separate flights now - I can totally see Kiddo saying something like that. LOL I'll have to try the lentils and pasta thing for Kiddo, though without the cheese (he's allergic).

Trisha - Yup, that's just what he does too. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Nicole - Me too. I hope your holiday was fantastic as well. :)

Jenny Girl - I'm really doing ok at the moment - let's just hope that continues. ;) And yes, I am VERY proud of Kiddo. He's supercool! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.

Kim (Sophisticated Dorkiness) said...

Good luck with the adjusting - I am sure that's really tough.

Kiddo sounds like such a great kid. I love hearing stories about him. I was scared to death to ride on a plane by myself, and I was in my 20s :)

Alyce said...

Your son sounds so brave and strong, both for flying alone and dealing with all of the food challenges. I hope that it's all good news from the doctors about the foods he's adding in.

Sheila (Bookjourney) said...

Sounds like a fun trip for Kiddo! I enjoy reading your updates!

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Kim - Too funny! He did a great job with the flight - I'm really proud of him. ;)

Alyce - Thanks! We're praying for good results but we'll deal with whatever we get.

Sheila - I'm so glad you enjoy them - I just can't seem to write about books at the moment ...

Jenn's Bookshelves said...

Yay for Kiddo being able to try new foods! And for flying solo (literally!). JJ hasn't done that yet, maybe someday!

MJ @ Creative Madness Mama said...

I know what you mean about motivation. Isn't it interesting that when you have more time at home it seems like Less?

Anna said...

Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Good news about Kiddo, though. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

Jenn - I'm sure JJ could do it!

MJ - EXACTLY! You'd think there would be more time to get stuff done but the motivation factor is seriously lacking (at least, for me).

Anna - Thanks, we did. :) And I hope you did as well.

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