hunger games

For those of you who know what's been happening in my life lately- you might understand this reference:


THE HUNGER GAMES HAVE STARTED AND MY NAME WAS CALLED AS TRIBUTE.


Yup. My name was on the list. 


I am losing my job. 


(Caveat: I am NOT losing my job due to lack of performance or anything...there are "overlapping positions" due to a merger).


I really am blessed to have had the job fall in my lap when Hubby lost his job last year. It did what we needed it to do. It helped our family stay on its feet. That is, IF family had feet...it would be on them. And not on its butt. 


Of course, I have the best intentions to "keep my chin up" and trust in God but I'm sure I'll have some days where it'll be hard to keep the "great attitude". Especially when Hubby doesn't have enough jobs one month to cover all the bills or when we have to start giving stuff up and selling stuff to make ends meet. Then...I'll wish someone volunteered as tribute for me. 


Seriously though, God is amazing. I know, for a fact, that He did not want me there. I know what it is he wants me to do. And He sent me a love song on the way home today just to remind me (I chose the one with lyrics so you could get it):

Now comes the real test. Do I just sing along or will I live it out?:

Anything I would give up for you

Everything I'd give it all away...

P.S. I'm a pretty awesome car-singer. People in the lane next to me agree.

Oh, and for those of you who were on the edge of your seats wondering...yes, I made my midnight deadline for my first essay. :) Pretty good essay, if I say so myself...and because I actually am an AUTISM EVANGELIST...oh yeah- I worked autism into my essay about psychological theories and our worldview. Hmmm, maybe I'll post my essay tomorrow in lieu of a blog.

~~Joy

(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved.

oh he makes my heart smile!

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Boogie: "Daddy and Sweetgirl mad an (at) me."

Me: "No, baby. Daddy and Sweetgirl are not mad at you.You make us happy. Boogie makes Mommy VERY happy."

Boogie (closes his eyes and smiles as he drifts off to sleep): "Happy Father's Day Mommy..."

That kid warms my heart.

Sleep, baby, sleep

i may have gone crazy

This is my first semester at Liberty University, with a goal of majoring in Religion. I desperately want to be more deeply rooted in the Word. I am also in another ministry program studying to become a pastoral counselor as well working on my pastoral ordination. God has led me on this path of combining Psychology and Religion and my hope is to give back to God by helping the hurting in this world. Specifically, I feel drawn to bringing to life the Word of God to parents of special needs children so they can see the beauty in the life God has planned for them. 


That's the nice way to say it. What that really means is: I'm currently taking an intense 8-week condensed semester of a Psychology course, a Theology course, a ministry course for pastoral counseling as well as working on my (very labor intensive) application to become ordained as a pastor. Yikes... God, lead me through this please, 'cause I certainly can't do it on my own! 


I'd tell you more about it but I have to go study...

once a upon a time, i had a sweet baby boy...

Oh.My.Sweet.Jesus. 


My son is OFF THE HOOK! I mean, really? Everything I say or do results in him stomping, screaming, running (or attempting to before I grab ahold of him), yelling, yelling, yelling, hitting, head-butting...ENOUGH ALREADY! 


I figured this would be a hard week because it's the first week out of school and not at the beach. I get it. It sucks to not be at the beach...I miss it too kiddo. Seriously, I do. Especially the not-having-to-do-anything part.

Oh yeah...I miss my sandy toes

Yesterday we went to my sis-in-law's friend's farm to meet our turkey. The farm was awesome! And the baby turkeys were adorbs!

One of these cute baby turkeys will be on our Thanksgiving table this year. 

No dice. Boogie was ridiculously nasty to the point that I had to send him to the car. I chalked it up to the heat (it was a scorcher yesterday).

Grumpy, grumpy guy...

It was so hard to handle him and he had me at my wit's end but I remained calm because 
1.) there were witnesses and 
2.) I was hot and irritable too so if I am, then he must be ten-fold. 


So, I have to be nice. And calm. But it is not easy. Not when today I make him homemade apple chips and he throws a fit about it and spits them out. Not when I then make him chocolate banana popcorn and he yells at me because the chocolate is white rather than brown. Not when every 30 minutes he literally gets in my face to yell that he's hungry again. Not when he flips because the ketchup is touching the macaroni. Or when he throws his bowl because I made the mistake of telling him the cereal goes in the bowl before the milk. 


I am at my wit's end. At this rate- THIS is where Boogie will be spending his summer:

Calm Down Step

Yesterday was a bad meltdown day. Today was a REALLY bad meltdown day. Top that with a nasty phone call from a family member ending with her hanging up on me...sigh...WHITE FLAG!!


~~Joy
(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved.

ring...ring...

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***************************************************************************


I was blessed this morning by a phone call. 


I love phone calls. With all the Facebooking, texting, IMing, IGing, KiKing, MySpacing (anyone?), Twittering, and e-mailing... just a simple phone call can make all the difference in your day. 

There's no misconstruing the tone of the other person, just organic back-and-forth conversation. Real conversation. Like they say something and you have to immediately answer them. You can't google an answer to their question (without them noticing that you take a long time to answer them). You have to pay attention when you talk to someone on the phone. It's a REAL person on the other line. You could multi-task while on the phone but I challenge you in your next phone call to take a step back and just BE in the conversation... It could be your biggest blessing for the day! 


I think it's more inline with how we should be with other people. 


Be personal. 
Be nice. 
Listen. 
Take turns. 
Hear them actually LOL when you say something funny. 
Make awesome noises when telling stories. It is very hard to write out sounds. 
Hear their voice. Isn't that what we all want? I think so since there is big business in recording our voices in cards, teddy bears and photo albums. We need human to human interaction. 


The bonus is that my phone call was from my spiritual mentor. I love her! She has opened a door for me to realize my potential in what God has called me to do and encourages me constantly. To be uplifted by a phone call can set the tone for the rest of your day. And she did that for me today. I didn't even realize that I needed it until she called.


For that, I am so grateful. 


~~Joy
(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved

food, glorious food

I know it's June. The middle of June. But I don't care. I still want chowder. Mmmm...chowder.

But I have to be so mindful of everything I eat now. When I was ignorant about having a disorder, then maybe I could've gotten away with having "whatever...I just want to eat this" type of days. But now? Now KNOWING how bad the bad food is and how it is in my hands to delay the diabetes and heart disease that is likely to come...I can't. I can't allow myself to eat the crap any longer. 

So, how do I have a bowl of yumminess? I just have to be mindful and every ingredient counts. So, potato chowder...here I come!!

Real potatoes. Real corn. Real carrots. Uncured bacon with no nitrates/nitrites. Unbleached flour. Real stock. Organic milk. 

It was more money out of pocket than buying a can of pre-made chowder. 

But I'm worth it, don't you think?

That is a yummy bowl of chowder!

~~Joy

(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved

toilet head

Here is another oldie- taking advantage of republishing from my other blog while on vacation.

This is not the first time nor will it be the last time that Boogie gets his head stuck in his toilet seat. The worst part about it is that we have to use baby oil to get it off so it doesn't pinch his ears. He also pulls it down while we are trying to pull up because he doesn't want it off... *sigh* This parenthood thing is fun and full of adventure (said through clenched teeth)!!
~~Joy
(c) 2010 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved

what is my role in all this?

Frustrated. Disciplining a kid is the last thing you want to do while you're on vacation but it has to be done.


Dealing with girl pre-teen drama is just not something I'm prepared for yet. And with only limited rights as a step-mom it makes it *that* much harder and frustrating. I step in to make concise summary statements from time to time when Hubby gets going on a long-winded lecture. (Boy, does that man love long-winded lectures! *I* get bored listening to them!) But in general, I don't have that much say as to the rearing of Sweetgirl. I try and believe that Hubby is not trying to leave me out. But he has a strong personality and has always felt like it's between him and Sweetgirl's mother to come up with a solution.


It's such a conflict for me because I feel like Sweetgirl needs Christian stability. She needs friends that have faith to help her make the right choices. To give her the confidence to stand up to secular beliefs of what is "ok" and say that she will not participate in it. I do what I can to instill that in her but over the course of the school year, it comes down to 4 days a month that she's with us and that just isn't cutting it and her mother doesn't go to church.


We have her over the summer full-time and I hope that in these 3 months we can crack through the laziness and ungratefulness but I'm already trying to deal with Boogie spinning a little out of control because the school routine is gone...(sigh) it's going to be a long summer...


~~Joy
(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson All Rights Reserved

Before I Go To Sleep

Mommy, don't you cry now and Daddy you weep.
I want to whisper something before I go to sleep.
I know that when I came here I looked perfect in every way.
And you were so proud, Daddy; when you held me on that day.
And Mommy, when you kissed me and wrapped me up so tight,
I knew that I belonged here and everything was right.
But then I stopped talking and began to slip away,
I saw your worried faces as you knelt by me to pray.
And Daddy, I always notice how you wipe away a tear,
When you watch the other children as they run and laugh and cheer.
I may not be able to tell you how much I love you so,
Or even show you how I feel and what I really know.
But when you hold me, Mommy, at night when all is still,
I feel the love you have for me and I know that all is well.
And Daddy, when you take me to the park to run and play
I know that you still love me thought the words I cannot say.
I want to tell you something before I go to sleep.
I may be sort of direct and you may not understand,
I know that I am not that little child that you and Daddy planned.
But I love you both so very much and I know you love me too,
And if I could only speak my heart, you would feel my love for you.
I know the future is unknown and you will always have to be,
The ones who love and listen and take good care of me.
I know that you are frightened and you shed so many tears,
And if I could I'd wipe them dry and take away your fears.
So Mommy, don't you cry now and Daddy please don't weep.
I want to say…I love you both, before I go to sleep.


Written by Sally Meyer 2000

life as vacation

The family is on vacation! With that in mind, please note that I am blogging from my phone and can't promise how pretty the final product will be!


The last few days have been filled with beach lounging, family bike rides, pool-time, game playing, movies galore, bad tv (The wildest police chases, Dumb criminals, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars...you get my drift), book reading, Instagramming (including a few IG wars!), sleeping in, eating together, ice cream eating, and playground playing. And a thought occurred to me: why don't we do this more? Why do we store it up for vacation? I mean, some of it you just can't do like the sleeping in and the beach lounging (if you don't live on the beach) but what about the rest of it?


Why don't we play more games or watch more movies together? We do these things but certainly not as often as I intend to. You know what I mean? When you really want to do something fun for a weekend and before you know it after all the errands and silly things you wasted time on (like cleaning- boo!) Monday morning is upon you like a bad habit. I'm not saying you shouldn't clean- you should, please do! But I know for me I have a problem with allowing tedious things to get in the way of memory making.


I can't continue to let life slip away. Every second wasted can't be recovered. And sometimes lounging is the best way to spend my time with the family. So...here's to memory making- let's make this life a good one!


~~Joy
(c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson all rights reserved.

Special Needs Ryan Gosling

I am excited to jump on the Special Needs Ryan Gosling meme-train that Extreme Parenthood started! Each Friday there is a new Ryan Gosling picture...


Basically the meme is a little break from our reality and Ryan "says" what we- as a special needs Mama- would love to hear our significant others say. My hubby will get a kick outta this one! :) Enjoy!

Ummm...ok Ryan!

~~Joy

Boogie and Sweetgirl invade D.C.

This post is transferred from "Boogie's Blog", so if you follow- sad to say it's a repeat for you! But this was a great trip we took to D.C. last summer and I'm slowly transferring over my Boogie posts so I can shut that blog down eventually. So, bear with me! Enjoy!

******************************************************************

We went to the Museum of Natural History in D.C.! 

I was excited for Boogie to take the trip, I figured he would like the dinosaur exhibits and the butterfly pavilion! His favorite part of the entire trip was the metro (of course!). We were riding "Emory". Those of you with Chuggington fans in your house know what I'm talking about! 

We got to D.C. and there was a big cultural festival going on- which was amazing! So, we got some down south BBQ before heading into the museum. I can't believe Boogie ate pulled pork! My picky eater had pork BBQ...it still boggles my mind. Then again, Boogie is REALLY good at gobbling something up and even asking for seconds and then I get excited and go buy that food in bulk and he refuses to ever eat it again. *Sigh* Life in the Autie-lane... 

Anyway, so we get into the museum and he is definitely impressed (how could you not be?) We head to the butterfly pavilion first because we had a limited amount of time with that exhibit (they have tickets). Well, while waiting in line, he was getting I.R.R.I.T.A.T.E.D., which I can totally relate! :) 

TIRED OF WAITING!!!

We finally get in and WOW it is amazing! Butterflies everywhere!!! Boogie really liked it until he realized that he's not allowed to touch the butterflies or climb on the ledges...that's when he decided he was done with the butterflies. Onto the next exhibit...

Next we go to the Bones exhibit. Very cool bones. We were in and out of that exhibit in about 4 minutes...the time it took to walk the length of it. I only stopped for a few pictures but it was obvious the kids were NOT very interested.

Whale Bones

As we were leaving the Bones exhibit we see two display cases for a Mummy exhibit. Hubby was so excited! "Let's go to that one!" Sweetgirl whined a little bit about it until she finally confessed that she was too scared to go to the Mummy exhibit. So we decided to skip it...after walking away we realized that it wasn't a full exhibit yet anyways...they just have the two teaser displays to let you know it's coming soon. Problem averted anyway.

So, as we walk around the corner, we stumble upon the Kid's Discovery Zone. Pretty neat...it kept Boogie's interest for a little while. We stayed there the longest. Boogie enjoyed the hands-on interactive stuff but not in the same way as the other kids. He just enjoyed the fact that there was something tactile...something to DO...plus other kids to look at, which he loves to do! Sweetgirl got to see a tarantula but we had just missed the feeding (whew!).

"Groundhog Boogie"

A bee hive

We stopped in the Ocean Hall next and Boogie stood in front of the aquarium watching the colorful fish until Hubby and Sweetgirl were done walking through.

As we leave that exhibit, I figured Boogie had about all he could handle and we almost leave until we realize...oh yeah!! THE DINOSAUR EXHIBIT...d'oh. The reason we came!! So we walked into the dinosaur exhibit and there was a weird noise. It sounded like an alarm was going off in another room or something. Well...it drove Boogie CRAZY...he immediately became aggressive and was visibly upset. I asked him if his ears hurt and covered his ears and he just looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, "Ears. Hurt." Needless to say, I picked him up and booked it out of there as quickly as I could. Poor Hubby and Sweetgirl had to realize on their own what was happening and run to catch up with me. 

All done museum.

Boogie was very happy to get back onto the metro to go back home though! But when we got off the train to go back to our car...disaster struck. He wanted to stay on the train and the meltdown began...

We had another mini-meltdown when Hubby got out of the car to get a smoothie for the kids. It was the fact that Daddy left. But the smoothie "smoothed" everything back over! :) All in all a good trip.


Disastrous end but under OUR circumstances (autism and all), it was a good trip. Different museum next time though... :)


Sweetgirl told me her favorite part was the Mummy exhibit...too funny.


~~Joy


Copyright (c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson
All Rights Reserved

commence phase one

So phase one: I have to make sure that I have not a lick of un-real food in my house. Or as PCOS Diva calls it, "de-junking your kitchen". 


Pfffttt...easy schmeasy. I've been eating real food for quite some time with only a few cheats. Sometimes I let Boogie (my adorable son) give me puppy eyes and I get him an occasional junk treat. Hmmm, at most I'll have just a few things lying around, leftover from the non-baking I do.


I used the rules of real food and what food I can't have with PCOS:


1. No ingredients I cannot pronounce.
2. No more than 5 ingredients.
3. No high fructose corn syrup.
4. No artificial sweeteners/colors/flavors.
5. No nitrates/nitrites.
(There are more: check out PCOS Diva and/or 100 Days of Real Food to see a complete list of Real Food Rules.)


Ha!!! What a dose of reality! When I used my rules list- reading every piece of food in my house, I came up with this:

HOLY SMOKES! Seriously? Wow! That is a lot! Some of the foods are the leftover baking items from the few times I baked in the past, a lot of condiments (not many that don't have junk in it), diet items, convenience powders (like dip mixes), and cereals that have way too many chemically-type ingredients to even consider keeping. 


CONFESSION: I kept the regular ketchup as I mix it with my homemade ketchup to ease Boogie into getting used to homemade ketchup.
SURPRISINGLY: I got to keep my ice cream (nothing bad in it! Yay!) and blueberry pie!
IRRITATINGLY: I realized that Hubby got non-iodized salt. Ugh.


Side Note: I don't recommend it but I ended up cleaning out my fridge as well (I mean soap, water and vinegar with a sponge and bucket cleaning ) so it took me an hour and a half to de-junk. Just toss the food, don't make it complicated like I did.


Phase One Complete! I celebrated with blueberry pie and ice cream. Boogie got mad because his blueberry pie was hot but he HAD to eat it right then and there and couldn't wait. Yeah, that was a fun meltdown. 


Take a minute and look at the ingredients in your food- you might be surprised what's in there!


~~Joy


Copyright (c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson
All Rights Reserved

every.word.counts

Today I'm excited to link up with Heavenly Homemakers for my very first Gratituesday! 

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Words. They are so easy to take for granted unless you are in a position where they don't come easily. Then, words hold much meaning.  


A LITTLE BACKGROUND:
As many Autie parents have experienced, we will use things that are highly desired to try and coax those precious words out of our kiddos. For instance, Boogie (my son) loves to eat. I mean, like it's a sport. He loves food. Mind you, only specific food, but food nonetheless. So we knew that using food would be a big motivator to get Boogie to speak. [If we tried with toys or other things, he would just give up and go do something else.]


It worked. He learned that if he  made utterances out of his mouth that sounded like the utterances we made, it would result in his desired food. He liked it. He slowly made the connection that the utterances would work for other things as well. We were on our way to being able to communicate with each other!


Herein lies the problem. When you teach a child to speak based on what they want and/or need, then words become used only to serve a function. And that's exactly what happened. Boogie spoke to receive. We went through the typical echolalia phase. That was to be expected and as a Mama, I knew when he was comprehending a word or just merely repeating it. What I didn't expect was that he only spoke to get what he wanted or to please us. He wouldn't initiate.


Over this past year, Boogie has started initiating conversations. And not always just to get something so it's been a joy to watch. And when he speaks to show love...that is a gift from God. It happened today. I'm working from home and I just don't feel well. I'm achy and I have a headache that is so painful, I had trouble sleeping. I'm constantly having to take breaks from the computer as the screen is bothering me. Just all around kind of blah. Well, Boogie came home from school, saw me, smiled and ran over to give me a hug (a new thing, he's only been doing that for the past two months but I'll take it!!). On his way over, Hubby saw me wincing in pain. 


Hubby: "How ya doin' over there?"
Me: "Not so good, my head is killing me"
Boogie (in midst of my hug): "Aww, Mommy, I want you feel better. I lah you." <patting my back>


Wow. God is good! Boogie didn't have to use his words to give me love, it gave him nothing in return...but he chose to do so anyway. I love that little guy. And I love how God uses him to show me pure love. 


So today... I am grateful for words.


~~Joy

Copyright (c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson
All Rights Reserved

with a little effort, you can have convenience too!

Good morning CRUNCHY MONDAY! This post is geared to show you the little things I do to try and reduce my footprint on this beautiful world God created. 


*****************************************************
With the points on my bankcard, I racked up enough to get a $100 gift card from Amazon. Hmmm...I needed something I would never normally buy for myself. With Hubby's input- we decided on this:

Isn't she beautiful? I can make one cup of coffee at a time and it doesn't have to be the coffee that Hubby drinks. He and I differ on coffee yumminess and he usually makes the coffee in the mornings. But with this handy dandy coffee-makin' machine, I could have the coffee that *I* want? Sold. 


Then one glorious day it came in the mail along with a 'starter pack' of coffee k-cups. Ummm...what do you do with those cups after you have your perfect mug of coffee brewed? There was no way that I could throw them in the trash. Could you imagine all that plastic being thrown away? Nope, a plan had to be formulated. If we were to have convenience- there was a price to pay. And Hubby knows he has to follow the rules when they are crunchy rules. I also have a reusable k-cup, which is awesome but I like variety with my coffee. So this is for the pre-filled k-cups.


A bowl was set up next to the beautiful coffeemaker for catching used cups.

Then once a week (although this was two weeks' worth of cups...I got behind. Never claimed to be perfect, people!), I take apart the cups to recycle. It takes about 30 minutes if you drink a lot of coffee (like we do) and take two weeks to catch up. I plug in my iPhone into my little speaker and put on Pandora. In case you're interested: I had it on The Piano Guys channel. Good stuff. 


1. Dump cups in sink:

2. Get a bowl for trash and set it next to the sink (it's all about making this a quick process):

3. Peel back foil. Just use the hole already punctured and peel around like a yogurt:

I know how it looks but I promise you, those are coffee grounds in my sink- not dirt! 


4. Rinse the coffee out. Depending on how much time I have, sometimes I dump the coffee into a container and add to my compost but today, it just got rinsed:

5. Pull up the paper filter inside and just yank to rip it out and put in your trash bin along with the foil:

6. Be careful- I haven't figured out the pattern yet but some of the cups have a little plastic filter inside. They are between the cup and the filter. Make sure you don't accidentally rinse those down the drain. (Speaking from experience):

7. Stack and RECYCLE!! As you can see with all of those k-cups, there were only 4 with plastic filters.

Look at all that plastic! And that's only for two of us over a two-week period. How much are you throwing away? Consider dissembling the cups and recycling! Mother Earth will thank you. 


~~Joy


Copyright (c) 2012 Joy-Jasmin Brunnelson
All Rights Reserved