An Update

I'm sad, but relieved, to say that I am finished with sign language classes. I love ASL, but for me, it might as well be quantum physics! It's beautiful to watch and so much more beautiful to understand, but it has not come easy for me. I hope to do more with ASL in the future, but for now, I'm excited to relax into the rest of my English degree.

Unfortunately I've had to rethink my summer plans a bit. I'm taking what was supposed to be a simple, easy uncomplicated online class. It's only Intro to Lit, for heaven's sake! I've been studying literature for years now! I just wanted to knock one out of the way and ease next year's load. However, this course is proving to be rather more involved that I had wanted it to be! Grrr. Looks like I won't be sleeping much for the next few months.

On the bright side, I'm so glad I won't be tackling this course on top of next year's load! It will be nice to have it out of the way, now, rather than in the way, later.

More of Smarty's Words

Kid logic is the best. Last week Smarty picked out a sort of spearminty-green shirt to wear for the day. When he put it on he said, "I look like a lime-ricky!"

Ben is restoring my grandfather's '67 Ford pickup. This is a labor of love that has rubbed off on my cute little boys. They've been taught well by their father, and major highlight of any day is a ride in this old classic.

Part of the appeal is sitting up front by the driver. Plus the windows are actually low enough to see out of, and the bench seat doesn't obstruct the view. They can connect with the passing world better in this old truck than any other vehicle they regularly ride in.

A few months ago Smarty coerced Dad into a ride. And even though Ben has installed a fancy, hidden stereo and sound system, Smarty requested they listen to the original, staticky a.m. radio. Smarty leaned his head way back on the top of the bench seat and grinned. Ben was amused by Smarty's joy and asked, "Whatcha doin'?"

Smarty actually sighed a little and said, "Just smilin'" How cute is that? I just love this kid.

Note:
This next story may only be funny if you know Sweety personally. To those of you who don't get this joke, I apologize for the inconvenience. If you're curious enough, send me an email or a Facebook message, and I'll fill ya in.

A few days ago Sweety woke up with a remarkable case of bed-head. So Smarty and I had a good laugh. Then we took Sweety in to the bathroom mirror, so he could share the joke. I guess Smarty was feeling the influence of the Little Rascals because he said, "Today we should call him Howl-falfa!"

Space Saving Solutions

We live in a pretty small house and storage space is minimal. Consequently, one of my favorite pastimes is surfing the net for creative storage ideas (I'm a dork. Don't worry, I know this). I haven't come across new ideas in a while, so I figure it's probably time to do a post of my own.
So in no particular order, here are some of the ingenious storage ideas we're currently using:

• We store wheat buckets under the end tables in our living room:

• We store other food items under the edge of the kitchen table, next to the wall.
• Our water storage boxes take up most of the space under the boys' bunk-bed (it's kind of nice that nothing gets lost under there).
• We've even been known to pull beds a few inches away from the walls and hide 72 hour kits or whatever behind the headboard.
• My tiny little kitchen doesn't even have a cupboard big enough to hold this platter, so we pretend like it's art instead:

• This casserole dish (in the dark, on the right) is one of my favorites, but it's long and skinny and difficult to stack with other dishes. Instead we hide it behind Sweety's picture in the top of our DVD cabinet:

• The closet in the front bedroom is like 3 feet deep, but having the closet bar set traditionally across the back of the closet made it difficult to take advantage of all that floor space. Ben moved the bar over to the side, and now we fill it with boxes, chairs, table-leaves, the vacuum and broom, etc. It's great!

• This was my Christmas present this year. I. Love. It. No more shoes all over the living room floor for us! I swear it always looks this neat and orderly, and we never, ever try to shove 40 pairs of shoes in here; even though you'd be surprised at how well this shelf holds them all! ;)

• This magnet board was made by my sweet sis-in-law, Millie:My hubby built a very simple rack to go behind it, with a separate door for medicines. Before this we had medicines and spices stacked in the breadbox, the pantry, and all through our cupboards. As far as I'm concerned, this is revolutionary!

I wish I could take credit for dreaming up all of these ideas, but any that originated from our house came from our resident creative genius, Ben. The rest we've borrowed from wherever we could find them.

So what am I missing in this list? What are your favorite creative storage solutions?

Lisa Genova's Still Alice

This book review is scheduled to be published on Barding Well in a few days, but my experience with this book ended up being so personal that I want to include it here as well.

Lisa Genova has earned her stripes and proven her skill with the well-researched masterpiece that is Still Alice.

However, this book confirmed for me that I am far more afraid of loosing my ability to think than I am of pain or infirmity. I will try to bare well any challenge that is thrown my way, but I crave the luxury of retaining my memories and ability to think and reason throughout. I place much value on the minds of older people. I would like to serve future generations the same way my predecessors have served me.

After watching my own sweet grandmother fight a loosing battle with dementia and Alzheimer's I found myself nodding my head a lot throughout this book. I drew many parallels and have gained a greater appreciation for my grandmother's experience.

Watching Alice go through this and realize her own uselessness was horrifying to me, because I thought of how helpless my grandma must have felt while her disease was progressing. I've honestly never considered what Alzheimer's must have been like for her. I've calculated what it meant to my parents, their relationships with siblings, and other relatives and situations. But what must it be like to watch your independence fade and realize what a burden you are becoming and will be to your loved ones? I pray I'll never know.

Another common experience I shared with Alice's family is how much communicating can take place without thinking, through feelings alone. In the later stages of my grandma's experience I remember that even though my grandma couldn't remember anything or anyone from the present, it wasn't hard to figure out if she was being treated with respect or condescension because of the way these incidents affected her mood and self-confidence.

My grandma didn't need to remember any part of a bad or good experience for it to affect her. These experiences drove home to me exactly how important it is to not allow these people to slip through the cracks in our attention.

One important positive feature of Alzheimer's that the book brought out is the unreserved love these people can offer the world. They love like few others can.

Likewise, I remember well, that as my grandmother's expectations and ability to evaluate my decisions dwindled, the love she showed for me increased and multiplied over and over. That love was sincere and fully accepting. It never felt false or inappropriate to me. It was beautiful and so meaningful during my teenage years.

I'm so glad that the end of the story brought Alice's family together and peace to her life. Her family worked hard to help her maintain her quality of life and demonstrated several ways she could add value to their lives.

There are some valuable lessons to be found in this book. Anyone who's life was/is touched by this cruel disease should pick this one up.