I found a job!

Yes, I was sceptical about my job search.  I had to broaden my expectations in order to find one.  My biggest gripe about my 20s is that I never learned a skill.  I don't have time/money for college and I don't know what I would've taken if I did go.  English literature and Medieval history can only take one so far.  I was waiting for my career to find me.  I just can't believe it did.  Someone was crazy enough to hire and train me as a dental assistant.  Now this will take some time, but it's paid training! And I get a raise once I'm x-ray certified.  What I had to broaden were my time limits.  I'm going from working 12 hours near by to 20 in a town that's 30 minutes away.  I've never been away from my daughter that long.  She will have her grandpa to watch her, but it breaks my heart to see her guarding the door so I won't leave.  Well why not save your pennies and stay home as others have told me.  We tried and it didn't work.  We live modestly already: I clip my coupons, my children wear hand me downs, we live in a townhouse, I don't have a maid (alas!) and we really can't cut it.  So within these circumstances, I am excited about learning something that will make me look desirable to employers.  In my own childish mind, what am I the most excited about all this?  It just so happens that the dentist's daughter-in-law is the assistant to Elmo. Yes, the Elmo on Sesame Street.  She is good friends with the man behind Elmo and he comes to the dental office sometimes to sign autographs.  How cool is that?  Wouldn't you say that's an in to have my children appear on Sesame Street?  OK I'm thinking too far ahead--but you have to have goals, right?

What a Difference Three Weeks Make

Madeleine's broken arm a week later:

 

 

Madeleine's arm after three weeks:

 

Dr. Flynn, Madeleine's Doctor



Madeleine went to CHOP's King of Prussia office Monday where her cast and pins were removed.  From the last X-ray three weeks ago to Monday's X-ray, we were shown how her arm grew a new bone and everything was just about healed.  Thank goodness Daddy came to hold her down while they split the cast-it would have taken 3 of me. I have to personally thank Dr. Flynn-chief of orthopaedic surgery-at CHOP for taking care of my baby girl.  I can't promise I won't get some gray hairs from the whole experience but we've finally come full circle.  

What <em>can't</em> you find off the coast of New Jersey?

We had a nice family outing to Wildwood, NJ yesterday.  The last time I was there I was 16.  At that time in history, I didn't care about water quality, burning hot sand and biting sand flies.  Why?  Because I didn't have little ones whining for 3/4 of a mile that the sand was burning their feet or flies were attacking them.  I wish I could say that was all there was to complain about.  There is a treasure of sorts that you can find along the beach and I wish I could say it was seashells.  One woman was holding up a piece of glass she had found in the water.  I saw (toilet)paper and candy wrappers.  Last year in Ocean City, NJ I found a plastic glove and plastic wrap.  Yum.  In Wildwood, the water seemed very murky which worried me.  The EPA has shut down 20,000 beaches in the U.S. due to contamination since last year.   All in all, the kids had a great time. There was a breeze and the water felt great considering it was almost 100 degrees.  When I'm there I never want to go home.  I wish I could wake up and spend all day there and be a total beach bum if there wasn't something called responsibility that beckons me.  I look forward to a time when mankind can enjoy the beach without having to worry about pollution.  They will all be pristine just as God intentioned.

Follow up on Southern women

There is one woman Britney will never speak for, and that 's Reese Witherspoon.  Born in Tennessee, Reese did comment in a recent magazine that she disapproved of Britney's baby on her lap while she was driving.  So maybe I can put my fears to rest on the generalization Britney had made earlier.  There is a statistic out there that 85% of children are not strapped in correctly.  Please read the manual that's in the box.  Of course, you have one up on her-you should be commended for putting your child in it in the first place.  Let's hope she's learned her lesson.  You know I'll be fuming when the next tabloid reads "Oops, I did it again!"

My son, the swimmer

Julian has just completed his first week of swimming lessons and I couldn't be more proud.  He looks forward to it every night and has shown how brave he can be to face his fears.  Why make a big deal of it? Doesn't every average eight year old know how to swim?  Well, as I've mentioned before Julian's on the mild side of the autistic spectrum catagorized as Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified(PDD-NOS).  This is as mild as you can get when it comes to autism.  He always has a fear of new experiences especially when it comes to water.  He suprised me by how he continued swimming even though he had water in his eyes--I have to wipe each drop away quickly when he's in the bath.  Last night he even laid on his back while the instructor held his neck and he kicked.  I could see how proud he was of himself.  There was a neighbor a year older than him a few months ago that doubted Julian's ability to kick a ball very high.  This child is in a soccor program and seems quite competitive.  I couldn't tell him about Julian's low muscle tone-which seems to be improving at a slow pace.  Why does there have to be such a fixation on competition?  Why can't kids just have a good time together without proving who is the best?  Thank goodness his lessons have not been at all competitive.  It is been great for him to experience in so many ways.  If we as a society have such fierce competition between ourselves, where does that leave the people who will never measure up?  That can be addressed on so many levels, but for now I am a proud mom.  He is doing his best and that's all I'll ever ask of him.

"The Napoleon of Shadows" Teaser

You can now get a sneak peak of my upcoming debut as Moira Skye in an early version of the teaser for the audio drama The Napoleon of Shadows from Infinite Imagination.  Click on the following link to see the trailer (the first half is the audio teaser; the second half is the visual opening credits).

The Napoleon of Shadows teaser (2.90MB)

 (You'll need either RealPlayer or the recommended Real Alternative codec to play these files). 

Let me know what you think!

No Chemo Today

My mother never learned to drive. She grew up in Philadelphia and took the train or the bus.  My father moves us out in the middle of nowhere, has three more kids and she refuses to learn.  Today she was going to receive her chemo, but her doctor decided it was not a good idea since last week she had shingles (think of it like a bad chicken pox) and the chemo could bring it back.  Well, I offered to take her there, since my dad commutes to Philadelphia for work everyday and has to go out of his way to take her.  After complaining to my sister that I was late, she warmed up to me.  The doctor gave her something instead of the chemo (retussin?) to keep the cancer in remission.  This required me dropping her off and three hours later picking her up.  She was so happy that she will not have to worry about side effects for two weeks.  She actually put her hand to my face and told me I was a good girl.  Yes, I'm almost thirty, but that warmed my heart. I know the past few posts about her have been negative, so I can leave this post with a warm and fuzzy feeling: we're having lunch next week.