My Sister

My sister's birthday is tomorrow. In my life I find I pay more attention to my last day of being an age than the first day of being an age.

So Deni, happy last day of being 49!

I'm feeling frustrated because I have some wonderful pictures of us growing up (such as Denise as baby New Year 1960--before I was born of course, Denise laying next to me in my crib, both of us in front of a Christmas tree covered in tinsel, both of us dressed in our tap dancing outfits, our graduation from BYU, and others) but our scanner isn't working and I can't get them on my blog!

The only picture I have taken of us with my digital camera is the one posted above. It was taken at Ed Week last August. It's not the best of me (but I feel that way about most pictures of me), but I think it's a pretty good one of Denise.

Next to my husband, Denise is my best friend. She is a wonderful, talented, loving person. I just wish we could see each other more often. Sadly, she can't attend Ed Week this year due to her work schedule, but we are hoping to get together during the summer and just enjoy some sister time together.

Some fun memories involving my sister:

playing "Indian Village" or "Lost in Space" with the neighborhood kids in Franklin (Doooctor Smiiiiiith, where aaaare yooou?)

as mentioned in a previous post...dancing around the house to "Zorba the Greek" and "The Little Nash Rambler" songs

catching fireflies while visiting Grandma and Grandpa Findley in Ohio

tap dance class ("Though April showers may come your way, they bring the flowers...)

making Christmas puzzles books for each other each Christmas

making radio programs with the tape recorder ("the blood is in my eye and it HURTS!")

Deni posted Osmond pictures over every square inch of our rather large bedroom (and me putting chapstick on a bunch of their lips)

me having to make sure I put the brush and comb parallel on the dresser so she didn't go beserk

listening to all her 8 track tapes

being roommates at BYU my junior year

driving cross county with Deni and Pat after Christmas 1982

a bunch of Ed Weeks

St. George and Tuacahn

Thanks for all the great memories, Deni. I love you tons.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (that's 50 exclamation points, in case you were wondering)

Happy 46th Birthday and Congratulations Glen

I thought posting a picture of Glen playing with his children would be a perfect picture to post for his birthday (since I haven't taken any photos of him yet today). This was taken last August in Brookings, Oregon. It shows his essence...he loves playing with the kids (you won't get me in that freezing cold water to play!). The kids are blessed to have him. And so am I.

Happy Birthday!

And congratulations on being named the CCHS's Teacher of the Year!!!

Andrew at the temple

Here I am with Andrew outside the temple.
The sun was quite bright, but we didn't have
time to move to a different spot.


And here are Andrew and Glen...you can see the 2 temple
workers on the inside waiting for us.


Andrew went to the temple to receive his own endowment last night. It was wonderful...not counting the 3 of us, we had 7 family members there. Afterwards, Grandma and Grandpa generously took everyone out to eat.

Glen took next Wednesday off and the 3 of us will be going back to the temple then.

We are slowly taking care of the list of things to be done before Andrew leaves on his mission. One of my big worries is that the suits he wants to order from Missionary Mall have been out of stock since we got his call...might have to go with a different style. But I guess we're getting it all done. We're down to 5 1/2 weeks now.

my husband is just a big baby

Tonight the Junior High had their evening of one act plays. Glen got to play a baby throwing a tantrum about not wanting peas. Hannah is behind him on the right. I tried to get pictures of her, but they didn't turn out. They had some really fun plays.

Eric, Autism and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

I read an interesting book the other day, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It is a work of fiction which is narrated by a 15 year old boy, Christopher, who lives in England with his dad. They never say in the story, but Christopher has Asperger's syndrome, which is high functioning autism.

My 17 year old has Asperger's, so I read the book. I have to admit that if I hadn't had a child with Asperger's I might have stopped reading it due to the abundance of "f" words...(I asked my niece, Megan, who has recently lived in England about the language and she said the "f" word isn't as offensive in England as it is in the USA). Of course to me 1 "f'" word is one too many, so other people might read it and think I'm overly sensitive.

Anyway (you do realize I always try not to ramble, but I'm not always good at not rambling), it is a fascinating look at how the mind of someone with autism works. Christopher is more severe than Eric and has a harder time dealing with every day life. The story starts out with him finding his neighbor's dog stabbed to death with a garden fork. He decides he's going to solve the mystery.

As he solves the mystery, he has to deal with the limitations of his disorder. Things like people touching him (he hits a policeman who touches him and goes to jail for a few hours); how seeing 4 yellow cars in a row on his way to school makes it a black day while red cars make it a good day; his love of prime numbers (the chapters aren't numbered 1, 2, 3,... but 2, 3, 5, 7, 11,...); how his food can't touch on his plate (like Monk); his not understanding jokes; taking things literally (which kind of explains not being able to understand jokes); how crowds and new situations overload his brain. He has to deal with his father as well. It also shows how he uses the coping skills he has been taught by his wonderful school teacher Siobhan.

Anyway, I have to say I really loved the story but due to the foul language I can't recommend it to the book club...or anyone else from church without the warning about the R rating it would receive if it were a film.

Now, just a bit about autism and how it manifests itself in Eric. Each autistic child is unique. There are certain areas that are usually affected in someone who has autism, but each one is unique in the degree and way in which he shows the traits.

For example, they often obsess on things. Usually it's a topic...they can tell you all the facts about something. An example given in a book I read dealt with vacuum cleaners. They could tell you about the different types and features each type has...but if you asked them to tell you which type of vacuum is best to buy, they (as a general rule) can't do it.

Eric doesn't obsess on topics, but he obsesses on reading. Ask his teachers. Maybe you don't need to ask because you've seen him in action. Often people with autism prefer non-fiction, but Eric loves fiction. What an imagination that boy has.

Another general characteristic is not being able to read non-verbal clues. Most of communication is done non-verbally and we usually pick up on the "rules" without being taught. An autistic child needs to be taught. For example, they are taught what facial expression goes with what emotion. They don't understand personal space or not being able to tell someone they are fat. Things like that. Eric seems to have a little bit of trouble with this one, but not too much.

They often have tactile issues. Their ears are overly sensitive and a ticking clock can be enough to distract them so that they can't get their work done...or even do more than distract but overload them so that they have a meltdown. Seams in socks and other clothing can be big problems, too. Certain food textures can cause them problems. Stuff like that. Eric doesn't seem to have this problem too much, either.

They are often physically uncoordinated. It often takes years for them to learn to ride a bike or to tie their shoes...and some never learn. Eric's had both fine-motor and gross-motor therapy for this. Legos are wonderful things.

They need routine. If something interrupts the "norm," it really throws them for a loop.

In Eric's case the routine isn't all encompassing. He doesn't need the same thing at the same time every day. It seems to just be more of a need not to have the schematic he has made in his head interrupted. So, if he thought "A" was going to happen next and instead "B" happens, he might have a little meltdown.

For a small example, if he's on his way to go to something like get a kleenex but you stop him to ask him a question, it's very difficult for him to answer the question. If you press him, he might start making a little screeching noise (don't know how to describe it...it's not loud but you definitely know something's bothering him).

So, I've felt I've gone on long enough. Just thought it was a fascinating book.

Mother's Day

I didn't want to miss posting about Mother's Day. Usually we have a family dinner with the entire Perazzo clan...this year the clan went to eat at Hunan's Chinese Buffet on Monday instead.

For breakfast, Glen and Hannah served me breakfast in bed...ham and cheese omelet with toast and jelly.

For Sunday dinner, Glen invited Francoise (a widow in her mid-80's who's from France) over to share dinner and the afternoon with us. She even attended church with us, though she in not Mormon.

Glen and the kids prepared the entire meal...ham and yummy potatoes were done in crockpots. We also had green beans and homemade dinner rolls. For dessert, we were served vanilla ice cream, 7 layer magic cookie bars, and "the next best thing to Robert Redford" (made with chocolate pudding). Thought I'd burst.

They did a great job.

Poor Alex and hind-sight

Alex has been sick for over 2 weeks now...only, on the whole he's felt really well until the last few days.

He had a low grade temp (99º) a few days in a row, so I kept him home. He had a blast playing games all day long with Andrew. Then his fever went up to 100-101º for 2 nights...but during the day he felt fine. Never complained of any other symptoms. I had talked to my RN sister-in-law and we were thinking he had a virus that would go away on its own. By Saturday he seemed all better.

The following week he didn't have a fever, but first thing in the mornings (when we were trying to get him ready for school) he said he didn't feel well. I thought it was no big deal to let him stay home an extra day or two...Andrew was here (and soon he'll be gone for 2 years and Alex won't get to see him at all) and Alex is only in second grade.

Wednesday I sent him to school and went off to work. I guess after lunch the school nurse called Andrew and had him pick Alex up as his temp was 99º and he said he didn't feel well and she said one of his lungs sounded questionable. He came home...and then acted un-sick.

Thursday I went to work and didn't really worry about it. But he started dragging and Friday morning I took him to the doctor. He had an ear infection in one ear (and when the doctor asked him if the ear hurt he said no) and a "touch of bronchitis" in one lung. He prescribed amoxycillin.

After 5 doses (it's now Saturday afternoon) Alex is feeling great...until a red, itchy rash breaks out on his legs and a bit on his arms. I call the pharmacist. He confirms Alex is allergic. I am to stop giving him the antibiotic and give him a dose of benadryl. He says Alex can wait to get a new prescription from the doctor on Monday.

Monday morning comes and Alex is dragging again. I go to work and call the doctor. He's not in yet and they ask me to call later. I call at 10:40 during a break inbetween classes. Yes, the doctor will send in a new prescription, which pharmacy do I use? I tell them.

I go to the pharmacy at 3:15 and the prescription had not been called in yet. It takes 10 minutes for the pharmacist to get around to calling the doctor's office. He gets their answering machine and leaves a message. I wait and wait. Finally, around 4:10 I go back to the counter and the lady apologizes to me and says a message had come in, but she can't get it...the pharmacist has to do it. After a few minutes she finally gets the pharmacist to check the machine and JOY it's Alex's new prescription.

They start working on it while I'm standing there. Turns out they don't have the exact strength of the medicine they want to use, but that's OK. I wait and wait. I finally go and stand in the line for the cashier. Bump into a neighbor there picking up her medicines. She says they used to use Walgreens but had such problems there that they switched over to Longs. However, Longs is now switching things around and currently Long's pharmacy isn't running too smoothly, either.

I wait. Finally one girl checks on things and finds my prescription half-taken care of. So they say to another girl (there are 5 women coming and going behind the counter) that I was waiting. To which she replied she hadn't been told. However, I heard someone earlier explain that 2 people (me and my neighbor) were waiting for these prescriptions...so she had been told.

I finally leave with the medicine just shy of being there 1 1/2 hours. I wanted to scream.

So, I'm thinking we'll let Alex sleep in this morning. Before I go to work, I tell Andrew if Alex is feeling well, he can take Alex to school. Turns out Alex had a fever of almost 101º today...but now he says he's feeling fine. Ugh.

I just hope this new medicine works and that by this time tomorrow Alex will truly be feeling well again with no relapses.

Poor guy. I should have just take him in to the doctor in the beginning (but he didn't really seem sick!). Sigh.

boys!

OK, this is just too funny...

Andrew came home a week ago and I got around to going through the bag of bedding he brought home from college. In the plastic zip case that his bed sheets had come in, I found his bed sheets all folded. So, I thought, maybe Andrew washed them before he brought them home. I have to admit, I doubted it, but the fact that they were in the plastic case instead of just stuffed into the bag with his mattress pad made me wonder.

Andrew, did you wash your bed sheets before coming home?

What bed sheets?

The ones you took to school.

You mean my blanket?

Your blanket? No, your sheets.

Well, I just slept on my green blanket.

Yes, folks, my very intelligent, wonderful, mature son never took his bed sheets out of the plastic case where I had put them last fall after washing them and sending them off to college with him. He spent the last 8 months sleeping on a bumpy blanket with a quilt on top for warmth.

Boys!

BBC reading list

My niece had the following on her blog, which I have "stolen:"

The BBC believes most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an 'x' by those you have read.
2) Tally your total at the bottom.

(X) 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
(X) 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
(X) 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(X) 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
(_) 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
(X) 6 The Bible
(_) 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
(X) 8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
(_) 9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
(X) 10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
(X) 11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
(?) 12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
(X) 13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
(_) 14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
(X) 15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
(X) 16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
(_) 17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
(_) 18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
(_) 19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
(_) 20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
(X) 21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret MitchelL
(X) 22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
(X) 23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
(_) 24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
(_) 25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
(_) 26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
(_) 27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
(_) 28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
(_) 29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
(X) 30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
(_) 31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
(_) 32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
(_) 33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
(X) 34 Emma - Jane Austen
(X) 35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
(_) 36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
(_) 37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
(_) 38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
(_) 39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
(_) 40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
(X) 41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
(X) 42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
(_) 43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(_) 44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
(X) 45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
(_) 46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
(_) 47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
(_) 48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
(X) 49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
(_) 50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
(_) 51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
(X) 52 Dune - Frank Herbert
(_) 53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
(X) 54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
(_) 55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
(_) 56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
(_) 57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
(X) 58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
(_) 59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
(_) 60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(X) 61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
(_) 62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
(_) 63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
(X) 64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
(X) 65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
(_) 66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
(X) 67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
(_) 68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
(_) 69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
(_) 70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
(_) 71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
(_) 72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
(_) 73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
(_) 74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
(_) 75 Ulysses - James Joyce
(_) 76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
(_) 77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
(_) 78 Germinal - Emile Zola
(_) 79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
(_) 80 Possession - AS Byatt
(X) 81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
(_) 82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
(_) 83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
(_) 84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
(_) 85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
(_) 86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
(X) 87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
(X) 88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
(X) 89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
(_) 90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
(_) 91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
(X) 92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
(_) 93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
(X) 94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
(_) 95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
(_) 96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
(_) 97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
(X) 98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
(_) 99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
(_) 100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Total Read: 35 (and I think I've read Tess of the D'Ubervilles, but I'm really not sure)

Of those I haven't read, I've been wanting to read Wuthering Heights, Middlemarch (I've read Silas Marner by George Eliot and loved it), and the Life of Pi.

Of the books listed, I started Wuthering Heights; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Moby Dick (way too much description); and Les Miserables (which is my sister's favorite book) and just couldn't get through them.

I don't have plans on trying to read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe or Moby Dick again, but I still have plans on reading Wuthering Heights and Les Miserables.

And of the books on this list that I have read, I'd like to say that my favorites have been: Pride and Prejudice, Harry Potter, Great Expectations, The DaVinci Code, The Woman in White, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven.

I will not embarrass myself by mentioning the books I had never heard of before.

my Dad's photo of the ocean

Got an email this morning from my Dad. A photo of his was chosen to be on the cover of their weekly tv guide. Thought it was pretty cool. Maybe I should ask for a copy of the photo to hang on my wall.