One more Question

   My husband,God bless him, seems to think that grocery shopping equates to a night out on the town. I am not even joking. Though it may sound like he's being a jerk he honestly is not trying to be. In his mind getting out of the house is "going out." Explaining to him that picking out a turkey is not the same thing as bowling a turkey is getting a bit tedious.  I love him to bits but I think I'm going to have to start taking him grocery shopping with me,LOL! Maybe I should just turn grocery shopping into a sport and then we'll be equal in our assumptions. I could still bowl a turkey down aisle 4 but I'm not sure if Safeway would like that very much. Laz and I could play H.O.R.S.E. with the ice cream and cart. We could have go kart races with the rascals.....

The Secret of Being Me

  Ever get that feeling that there is something wrong with you? Meh',maybe it's just me. I can't tell you how many times I've introduced myself to someone  (around the Albany area) and had them sneer at me. Maybe it's how I was raised but in general I thought you were suppose to be polite to people ,let alone someone that approaches you and says's "Hi,my name is so and so,nice to meet you." I mean, is it really that hard to be polite,takes like 5 seconds to say, "nice to meet you too."

  I've had it happen so many times now that I am beginning to wonder if perhaps I have something wrong with me that my family has kept from me my whole life in order to save my feelings. Could just be paranoia but really? I mean are their really that many rude people in and around Albany? In general the ones I have run into are older adults as well,GAG! You're not teenagers anymore people,time to drop the act!

Maybe I should just make a public announcement about the effectiveness of polite conversation between strangers...........Oh bother..............

The Tail of a Neurotic Cat named Licorice

One of my parents cats,Licorice, patiently waits by the front door of their home everyday. Surely waiting for food or her owners to get home right? No....She's waiting for my Dad to use his lazer pointer. It's gotten to the point that I have caught this poor cat with her nose right in the corner by the door as if she was some kind of German pointer. She was so still she could have been confused for one of those scrubbers that you use to clean your boots off after you come inside from the rain and mud.The worst was when she starting chasing the lazer pointer that wasn't there. Is it possible to drive a cat insane I wonder?

The Novak Boys

I have decided to participate in an event in honor of my children and all those that are affected by autism. This event is a walk-a-thon and it's done through autism speaks which is sponsored by "Toys R' Us" and "Babies R' Us." It's not until August but I am trying to raise money for the cause until then. I have set a goal of 500$.


Here is a link to my boys autism speaks page: http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/portland/brittanynovak


You can donate here and you can also sign up to do a walk in your area if you felt led as well! :)

Should I Stay or Should I go Now

My son Troy came home from school yesterday in what seemed to be a fog. He had a fever and the bus driver said he actually fell asleep at school and slept all the way home (13 miles). When I got him inside he fell back asleep on the couch and didn't move until about 7 in the evening when he got up to run to the bathroom. He almost made it :( He threw up right in front of the toilet,poor kid. He threw up one more time last night and then he was able to keep some children's Advil down. After he took the medicine he seemed to perk up a bit. Even this morning he was back to his normal bubbly self. However at around 12 he used the bathroom and then said "bath please." That's code for "I made a present in the toilet please flush it and give me a bath." He played for a bit and then got out by himself and sat by his brothers while they watched "River Monsters" on TV.  This was while I was making lunch (taco salad). Towards the end of cooking I noticed the house was really quiet. I thought Troy must have fallen asleep on my bed.When I checked he wasn't there so I looked in his room and sure enough he was asleep on his bed or so I thought. I reached over to feel his head (which was fairly warm). Apparently just that gentle touch was enough to wake him or he wasn't totally asleep yet. Anyways he came out from his room and laid on the couch and has been asleep there ever since. This is not like him at all. The last time he had the flu he would throw up and then run around and yell  and bounce on his bed etc. Whatever this is has him knocked down for the count. If it doesn't let up by the evening I'll be taking him to see a doctor or emergency room if it get's any worse. I know it sounds funny but something just doesn't feel right about this. My mommy intuition is tingling so to speak.

Aches and Pains and Exhaustion....OH MY!

  I'm going on a week now of almost no sleep. Every night I've been kept up by this post nasal drip garbage. This morning I was awoken by 4 little monsters...Ok I was tired and my vision was a bit blurry. Turns out it was my kids. Anyhow, my little monsters.....I mean kids woke me at about 6:30.All four of them sounded congested and number's one and two have a fairly bad headache. The decision to keep them home was finalized through a committee meeting between Laz and I all in about 5 seconds. So we are all home today,chillin',watchin' some movies,well atleast the kids are. I on the other hand am going to work out and then take a nap :)

Eyeballing my Food

  Well I fell off the diet roller coaster today but oddly enough I don't feel to bad about it. I fell off yesterday too but not in a big way,I ate a handful of cereal. Today,however, I had a doughnut (CARB CRAVING!). Really, I don't feel to bad about it. Not that I want to repeat it but I know that I can continue on the diet because I don't feel like a complete failure for slipping up once or twice. To tell the truth I started exercising and cut out a lot of carbs long before I started this diet and I keep forgetting to factor that in. Just cutting carbs and quitting soda has got me down two dress sizes alone. So hopefully I won't slip up too much more but overall I feel very confident about this process. I know that it'll be a two steps forward one step back kind of deal so back to moving forward now.

  Random Thought: I read an article yesterday that stated drastic dieting can lead to feelings of anger and even rage. "LIGHT BULB".....Now I get it! I've been a tad snappy lately! :)

How to Kill a Diet

I must admit that I am indeed a fan of criticism IF done in a constructive and graceful manner. HOWEVER.....I am not a fan of constant negative criticism,it get's old real fast. I am also not a fan of being compared to other women,particularly other mothers. The worst of the worst is when these two negatives are combined it makes me want to go a few rounds in the octagon.

 There is a certain someone in my life right now that seems to have a penchant for wanting to hit the mat with an angry mother. They consistently practice negative criticism towards me and most of the time couple that with comparing me to other mothers in our group of friends. Maybe it's hormones or maybe I'm finally coming out of my fog long enough to think straight but whatever it is I am getting beyond annoyed with this individual. In the last couple of days I have been so stressed that I actually spoke.....spoke up that is. A little background: I am the type of person who always keeps my cool,finds it very easy to forgive.Just all around passive I would say. As wonderful as that all sounds I also have a bad habit of just taking whatever comes to me. I am a firm believer that when you have kids you should have your tiffs behind closed doors. But the closed doors thing doesn't happen around here a lot so I get treated like junk( from not just one person in particular but from a couple) then I am left with no way to resolve the issue. Anyways..I digress. I guess that I am finally over the "bottling it up" shenanigans and I am about to blow. I am seriously feeling angry,very angry these last couple of days. I have said things that I wouldn't have normally said.

  I try not to use our children as an excuse but the fact is that three of our kids are disabled,two mildly. That in and of itself makes life quite different than the average family situation. I guess you could say an "interesting family dynamic." I accepted my children's situation in order to move forward and get them help and most of all because I love them. Having multiple kids with autism makes it very hard to parent in what most would call a "normal way." I guess what I am getting at is that my life and the way I work and raise my children is very different because they,my kiddo's, require more work and patience than the average child. Therefore I don't have the time needed to make the everyday things that people take for granted "perfect."

   In the end I feel that certain people forget what my life is or may be like and assume that I am doing everything all wrong because I don't do what every other mother or wife does so they are very critical of me. Frankly I am tired of explaining to these certain few.I am done. I am doing the best I can with what I have and with the blessings I've received. Frankly....my children are not a problem.The problem lies with those that can't seem to wrap their mind around our situation.

I should really take up kick boxing or something..I need to get this out of my system. I am really hoping this feeling blows over,I don't like feeling angry.