Back in September or October, Randa's dentist informed me that her wisdom teeth were starting to come in. She gave us a referral to an oral surgeon and we called. No joy. He no longer accepted Randa's dental insurance. We tried another. Same result. We tried three more. Finally, in February, we found an oral…
6 Days Left
These are STARRY NIGHT PROM goodie bags from our 2015 prom. These customized backpacks were donated to us by the Elks Lodge #2114 in Arlington, Texas. We stuffed them full of swag for each of our attendees; AISD High School students with significant disabilities. The swag included a customized Starry Night Prom 20-ounce cup, pens, pencils,…
It’s NOT a Tantrum
Walking through a supermarket, the severely Autistic person wears gun-range headphones to help block excess noise to protect her highly sensitive hearing from the overwhelming barrage of clanking, banging, muzak, baby cries, squeaky buggy wheels and blips and bloops from cash registers. A woman getting over a cold coughs into her elbow, and the Autistic…
Judging Books by Covers
The following was written by my friend, Joli Crow. (It's shared with her permission.) And it speaks volumes as to the body-shaming and judging and the ridiculous lack of manners that seems to be rampant any more. I read this this morning on her Facebook status and the more I read, the more my heart…
Kroger Plus Card Swipes for Starry Night Prom
Are you one of those people who truly LOVES inspirational stories and programs and organizations that want to help all of the people with all of the things but you just don't want to buy anymore cookie dough or wrapping paper or write anymore checks?! Yeah. I'm one of those, too. So how can you…
Gearing Up for Starry Night Prom 2017
See these bright smiles and happy faces in this photograph? They belong to some of the participants in the Starry Night Prom 2016. Starry Night Prom is a registered Non-Profit 501 (C) (3) organization that annually holds an all expense paid prom for Arlington ISD High School students with significant disabilities. Starry Night Prom is…
Precipitation-Induced Win
After having had such a busy summer where I felt as though I'd achieved only 10% of the tasks I'd given myself due to the unbearable heat, I feel like all of that has changed today. Why today? you ask. It's been raining for the last 2 days and, as anyone who knows me can…
Did I Do Too Much for Them?
As mothers, we second guess ourselves and the choices we make all of the time. Since these children don't come with owner's manuals or anything remotely close to that, we sort of "wing it" and combine our gut instincts with the way that we were brought up and what we admired from parental examples we…
Our Summer Vacation to Athens
So, this week has been a major ass-kicker for me...mostly in a good way. Sunday we took advantage of the fact that my son and daughter both quit their summer jobs and that my husband finally replaced the compressor in the van giving us air-conditioning. YAY. So we finally got on the road about 2…
Supposed To vs Actually
We're supposed to go on a road trip today. We're supposed to be stuffing the entire overbooked with practical shit summer into one day of family fun not too far from home. My kids are supposed to be up and packing picnics, getting softball equipment, and bags of ice ready and into the back of…
The Deep Down 