General wishes

Happy holidays to all!

Listening with my eyes

I recently had the pleasure of attending a holiday concert featuring a choir and (separately) a band. Apparently, there were hearing impaired patrons in attendence, also, since there was a sign language interpreter.

This is not my first experience attending an event with a sign language interpreter. However, on this occasion, I was compelled to focus on the interpreter. The only explanation I can offer for my behavior was that I was already familiar with the songs performed by the chorus.

The program was a mix of traditional and contemporary music, but the songs were all too familiar to anyone not living under a rock for the last two years. I found the sign language interpretation fascinating.

The interpreter signed the traditional songs in a way that was very fluid and graceful. Several times during the slower songs, there were hand movements which seemed to mirror each other...easily resembling graceful birds coasting on wind currents. Then, there were the more contemporary pieces offered by the chorus. Those pieces were more upbeat with lots of short notes. When the interpreter signed during the more contemporary songs, it appeared as though the interpreter was pinching and plucking the air. Also, during the more upbeat songs, the interpreter's hands resembled fast moving spiders, lightly touching the air with short, jabbing steps.

Clearly, I know nothing about sign language interpretation, but that's not to say it didn't affect me. I enjoyed looking at music in this different way.

It's the male version of knitting

Mixing a CD, as a hobby, has just GOT to be ranked somewhere near knitting...or tatting.....

I made an earnest effort at it, but it feels pedantic. Clic and drag...right clic and edit...double clic here...check the box there.....I started to get tense, then my husband laughed and remarked at how I become tense over tasks which are really quite relaxing. Sadly, it is true.

I rewarded myself with a Krispy Kreme donut and a lot of songs from Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5 to burn the calorie wake left by the chocolate iced donut with sprinkles. YUM-O!

Double WOOT for Glutino!

Oh, joy! We found a replacement for the candy bar in a previous post! Glutino (different than Glutano) makes a cookie (think sugar wafer) which is covered in milk chocolate. The taste is very similar to a Kit Kat, but with less chocolate coating, and less density in the cookie part. Of course, we celebrated by eating some of them on the way home from the store.

Different view of normal

When I drive the kids to school in the morning, I always say a little prayer with them that usually goes something like this:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for this beautiful day. Please help us to remember to do our best work, and to be good listeners. Please help us to have good attitudes and make good choices. Bring us home safely tonight. Amen."

Lately, for the benefit of my son, I've had to add the following line:

"Please help me remember not to sniff my classmates' hair."

Within the last couple of weeks, he has discovered the smell of shampoo and the texture of hair. Not a huge deal, if he were three years old...but he is 12. He'll turn 13 this spring.

I had a meeting with a few of his teachers a couple of weeks ago, and was informed at that time about this new fascination. Of course I asked him about it. The conversation went like this:

me: Your teachers have told me you are sniffing ______'s hair. Why is that?
he: I like the way his hair smells. I like his shampoo.
me: Have you thought about asking him what kind of shampoo he uses? I would be glad to buy the shampoo for you to use.
he: Don't be silly, mom. I can't sniff my own hair! It isn't long enough!

Apparently I'm the silly one in this scenario. He considers it normal to huff shampoo. Sigh.

At least he isn't licking people anymore.

Honk if you are gluten free

For those of you who are gluten free, you may already know Glutano made a gluten free candy bar similar to the scrumptious Kit-Kat. I had placed a special order for a crap load of those things back in July or August. My son loves them.

Just about every week since then, the natural food store (where I placed my order) has been calling me with status reports on the candy. Every week, they told me it was still out of stock. Having worked retail for a crap load of years, I know that when a product is on backorder for several months, nothing good ever comes of it.

Today, I learned the Break Bar has been discontinued.

I just wanted to yell at the lady on the other end of the phone line. It wasn't her fault, of course, so I didn't yell. I was nice and said, "I understand" at the appropriate times of the conversation. All the while my head was spinning, trying to think of a way to tell my son without either of us suffering a meltdown. Sigh.

Honk if you love the Glutano Break Bar. Let Glutano know this candy bar should not be discontinued.

Introduction

The phrase, "clean as a whistle" means (according to the Scholastic Dictionary of Idioms) completely free from dirt; perfectly neat. The idea being, the best the best sound comes from a whistle free of dust and grime.

I used to ask my son if, after he cleaned his room, it was clean as a whistle. He would always respond with, "It is clean as 6,000 whistles!" He didn't understand this idiom at the time. Actually, seven years have passed, and he still struggles with idioms.

This blog will be about many things, much of which will cover Asperger Syndrome, parenting, sibling rivalry. It will be funny at times, and serious at times.

Let the games begin.