Another Monday. Man this month is going so slow. Of course the fact that we've been broke for the past two weeks may have something to do with it. Went a little overboard on our visit to Oklahoma on the 5th and payday isn't for another 2 days. Had to scramble and get a payday loan to cover the HOA fees that bounced. Only wanted $100 because that was the minimum and we were only $13 short, but they deposited $200. Good thing they did I guess... We bought some groceries and the rest went to cover the boy's doctor visit last week. We have about 5 or 6 prescriptions that need to be picked up. Those will have to wait til payday. And then we'll have to cover the payday loan and a check we wrote to daughter to reimburse her for our hotel stay. Thank God she gets a discount.

So it looks like we'll be broke for the rest of the month as well. We have to go back to Oklahoma on the 22nd. Fortunately someone else is footing the bill for flights, food and accomodations for that trip. We'll need a little money for odds and ends along the way but we won't be entertaining this time, so hopefully it'll be a little cheaper.

We'll soon find out how hubby's income will be adjusted as the new company takes over. Our insurance company will change, which unfortunately means we will likely have to start over on meeting our deductibles... That SUCKS! Cuz we're already in collections for this years deductibles as it is. But we probably won't have to continue paying back the profit sharing loan. I assume we will be taxed on the amount we still owe, but the rest will roll over to a 401K. I'm hoping we can take out a little extra to get caught up on some bills first.

I am excited about the possibility of getting dental and vision coverage. We've never had that before. I have about 10 cavities that need to be filled and I need at least one more crown. And I'm WAY overdue for an eye exam. The boy needs to see a dentist and he desperately needs braces or something to straighten his teeth out a little. There's just no room in his mouth for all those teeth and they're terribly overlapping, especially the lower front teeth. Hubby gets semi-regular eye exams but he hasn't seen a dentist in close to 20 years.

So that's enough whining. Gotta remember and be grateful for the good stuff. School is still going great for the boy. I met them at the bowling alley last week and had lunch with them at Cici's again. Had to bring a GFCF pizza for the boy, but I enjoyed sitting and chatting with the teacher and pigging out on the buffet.

Had the boy make his teacher a bracelet at an Autism store beading event over the weekend. I was hoping to have him make 2 but he barely had the patience to sit and make one. I could've kept it for myself but I rarely wear jewelry and I thought the teacher would appreciate the gesture. I wasn't terribly impressed with the selection of beads but I was grateful they weren't all the super tiny ones. The boy has limited vision and fine motor skills but he did really well with the larger ones. The bracelet turned out really cute with a pattern of light and dark wooden beads, we topped it off with a puzzle piece charm that said "Made with Love."

Hubby made me a cheese omelet for breakfast and I had him buy me a watermelon for Mother's Day. I spent the day at home in my pajamas, tried to cut my finger off trimming the fat off a chuck roast and then finished off the evening with the "Survivor" finale. All in all, not a bad day...

Hubby got the boy up and made breakfast for him while I took a quick shower this morning. Then he helped me bandage my finger. Got the boy out to the bus stop in record time... And about 2 minutes before the bus generally comes, I realized I hadn't given the boy his medicine (particularly his risperdal) this morning. I hope he isn't too disruptive. They're supposed to go swimming today and he's generally noisy at the pool anyway. Maybe they won't notice the difference. Ha, fat chance! I'd go give it to him at school but the car is out of gas.

I'm so ready to get this month over with!

Got our tax return this weekend and I was all excited to sign up to become a distributor for Protandim. Called my representative to have her walk me through the process. About halfway though I was shocked to find out the financial obligation was a bit more than I had anticipated. I've been to 4 meetings and they alway talk about the $630 to sign up, but that you get about $500 of that in product for your kit, your choice of either so many full size bottles of Protandim, so many bottle of True Science lotion or a combination of the two with a bunch of sample size packets of each. They made it sound like I could get a years worth of product for myself and then I would only be out the other $100 bucks or so if I never sold any product or had anyone sign up under me. But by buying the kit, I would qualify for commissions and residual income from other people who signed up underneath me or from people who bought the product. No one ever said anything about the monthly autoship that I would have to maintain and the only way to reduce my out of pocket expense is to get enough buyers to offset the cost.... I can't afford to take that risk.

I shoulda known. If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Hubby and I are somewhat socially akward, and the boy sometimes makes it difficult for us to get out and meet new people, much less hold a long enough conversation to network and sell the product to anyone. I like the idea of the product and I will continue to use it, but besides the mole issue, I don't have any concrete evidence that it's doing anything for us. The boy and I have been on it for just over 30 days. It supposedly takes 90-120 days to experience full results. We've both had some bloodwork drawn (for different reasons) and as soon as we get the results of those tests and see that it might have done any good, I may reconsider. I've heard several of other people's testimonies but until I have an inspiring story of my own to share, I won't be signing up to sell anything right now.

So I'm sure my representative is a little disappointed with me. She's new to the business herself and would obviously benefit from signing some people up. But I'm going to increase my order today since I won't be getting a kit anytime soon.

If you are still interested in trying the product for yourself, and I would still recommend that you do, I can put you in contact with the person I order it from. She has become a dear friend. Her daughter is severely affected by cerebral palsy, is nonverbal, uses a wheelchair and has a therapy dog. Her daughter and the boy attended a Middle/ High School dance for students with special needs at a local church this weekend. They had a blast! And my friend was able to join my hubby and me for a nice adults only dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby. It was nice to sit and eat and not have the kids to deal with for a couple of hours. However we both had our phones close by with volumes set to high... Just in case. Lol!

It's hard to believe we've already been in the new condo for a month. It's going pretty great. Our first electric bill is only $19. I'm pleasantly surprised because it's a huge open floorplan with a loft and 20 foot ceilings. Our bill at the other apartment, even though we weren't there and the only things plugged in are the microwave, oven, W/D and refridgerator, was still $45. It's probably about half the square footage and only 9 foot ceilings. There is definately something wrong with this picture.

Our unit faces the parking lot so of course you have the usual cars doors slamming, engines revving and people chatting. It's not bad if you keep the windows closed. One Friday or Saturday night though, a group of drunk people came home from the bar around 2 am and decided to jump in the hot tub. The rules posted clearly state the hours are from 9am-9pm but I guess it's hard to enforce with an HOA. I was wishing I had a BB gun. Drunk guys and girls squealing directly across from my unit at 2 AM is not a pleasant experience. But I shut the windows, turned on the AC and managed to fall back to sleep. Hopefully that won't happen very often.

So far, I've seen a few people walking their dogs but I rarely hear them. And I've only seen 3 other kids at the regular bus stop in the mornings. They look to be high school age, so I assume the elementary and/or middle school bus come at a different time. The boy and I wait in the fitness center for the special ed bus. One of these days I might actually become inspired to use the equipment. I nearly did yesterday afternoon as I was waiting for the bus to drop off. But there was a young guy in there, topless, lifting weights and I became intimidated. I took my new cell phone and waited at a table outside near the pool instead.

The boy still seems to be enjoying the new school program. He's doing much better with his tasks this week volunteering at church and Goodwill. Teacher complained about him being unusually noisy on Monday and asked if we'd done anything to reduce those behaviors at other schools. I apologized and said "no." I didn't really have any suggestions for her other than constant reminders to be quiet. The next day she took a baseline to document the outbursts. It was 5 times in 15 minutes. She says she has some ideas for reducing the noisy outbursts. I certanly hope it works. I really appreciate her continuing to write detailed accounts of his day and how he's actually engaging in activities. I really feel like she's trying to make a difference and that it's not just glorified babysitting.

On Monday, as the boy and I were walking home from the bus, I asked him my usual question, "How was school today?" Normally I just get a blank look or he may echo what I say. Usually, I prompt some sort of response, but Monday he answered spontaneously, "Swimming pool!" He had indeed gone swimming that day and I was absolutely ecstatic for any sort of accurate, unprompted verbal response...

The boy and I have been trying a supplement called "Protandim" for about three weeks now. It's an antioxidant blend that's supposed to reduce the free radicals in your body that lead to oxidative stress by 40 percent. I won't go into detail here but here's a link if anyone is interested in more information. http://www.doesprotandimwork.com/tag/protandim-reviews

The boy has been taking massive doses of Vitamin A, C, and E for the past few years and his oxidative stress has still been through the roof. He also takes an oral glutathione supplement which is kind of pointless because it's mostly digested and excreted. Although some may make it's way into the circulatory system, it doesn't get into the cell that way. Protandim produces glutathione naturally and supposedly increases glutathione levels by 300 %. We will have more bloodwork drawn in a few weeks and I'm curious to see what sort of difference it's making for him if any.

You can go here and watch the Primetime Live Investigative Report with John Quinones. http://www.primetime2005.com/

It's really pretty interesting stuff. I've been attending informational meetings and I'm considering becoming a distributor. If you know me, you know how much I hate network marketing schemes. But for my understanding of the product and how it's supposed to work, as well as some of the great testimonials I've heard, I'm actually tempted. For the length of time that I've been on it, I've been sleeping better, my libido is improved, and I've had 3 small red moles on my arms and abdomen, dry up, scab over and fall off. I will have my thyroid levels tested next week and I'm curious to see if it's made any difference there either.

It works differently for different people and they state clearly that they can't claim to prevent, treat or cure any diseases, but it has several peer reveiwed clinical studies as well as 4 patents. You can go to PubMed.org and type in Protandim for those reviews or you can go here  http://bigbluecalendar.mhsoftware.com/  to read them as well.

And @to_be_creative, it has excellent anti-inflammatory features, I wonder if it would help with your fibromyalgia pain?

If anyone is interested, I'm seriously considering signing up to become a distributor this week. You would really be helping me out if you ordered through me. And if you try it and decide you want to jump on the bandwagon too, I can certainly find you an informational meeting to attend. It's not well-known in Oklahoma yet as far as I can tell so you'd definately be in a prime position. Again, you'd be doing me a solid if you signed up under me. As you can tell, I'm REALLY excited about the product. They also have an anti-aging skin lotion that smell wonderful and does a great job. I've only tried a few samples but I will definately be getting some!

We've been trying to use the new iPad as a reward for using the toilet for BM. That boy is stubborn. Went the entire Spring break without any luck and I felt so bad for not allowing him to play with it. It was sitting on top of the fridge just taunting him and he still pooped in his pants. So yesterday, hubby went to finish cleaning up the old apartment. The boy wanted to go with him to ride the elevator. I was worried daddy wouldn't be able to get anything accomplished with the boy there so I suggested he take to iPad to keep him occupied. I was having some dairy issues after combining a blizzard with my iron supplement, so I was more than happy to have a few hours to myself.

Daddy said the boy definately needs a case with wide edges because when he holds it, because both thumbs touch the screen which makes tapping icons difficult. But that he was very gentle with it, never dropped it, and was eager to show daddy his pictures and videos after he took them.

I'm still a bit apprehensive to send it to school with him. We'll play that one by ear...

Today he started at his new school. They were supposed to go swimming but with it being the boy's first day, they decided to change up the schedule a bit this week. They're going shopping and to the library instead. With his special diet, I can imagine eating out at restaurants and buying food at the store may be a bit of a challenge. As well as any cooking projects they  have. It may take some time but the teacher seems willing to work with us. She even said I could accompany them on their weekly field trips when they go bowling, skating, etc. I'm excited!

I need to go pick him up from school in about half an hour. I'm anxious to hear how his day went. Hopefully this teacher will be more willing to communicate than most of the other ones we've encountered, especially since there's only 3 or 4 kids in his class right now. They are expecting more next fall, and the teacher will be out on maternity leave for the first couple of months. That worries me a bit, but she insists the kids will be in good hands.

I'm eternally optimistic. Let's just hope I'm not disappointed.

Our microwave crapped out the other night. Lights up but no heat. We called to see if it was still under warranty with GE. It's not. We called our home buyers warranty and were concerned that they may not cover it since it's no longer under manufacturer's warranty. But they called the builder and he agreed to replace and install a new one today. Just waiting for someone to knock on the door.

Anytime now....

I'm having a seriously crappy Monday. Cable box died yesterday so technician came out and gave us a new one. Thank God is was the newer smaller black one with the sleek HDMI cable we've been hunting for for the past 2 weeks, versus the gigantic, clunky, old grey one with huge outdated cable wires. Unfortunately, the technician left while the software was updating. I don't know if it was something I did or an error on the cable company's part, we got regular channels but no HD channels. Hubby called and complained. The technician apologized and said he would take care of it. A little while later the screen went black again and I assumed they had to reload or update software again. Here it's been another hour and a half and we still have no channels... We tried calling again and left a message but no one has responded. This all began at 11:30 AM and I've had TV for one full hour since then.

So frustrating!

I'm ready to cancel cable completely but it costs almost as much for internet alone as it does to bundle the two and you have to pay for the HD service to watch TV in full screen mode without cutting off part of the picture. Such a scam! Our only other alternative is Dish and I HATE those nasty satellites on the balcony.

I'm really going to be pissed if I have to sit home waiting for cable techs and staring at a blank screen for another day tomorrow. But on the upside, I got the house pretty clean and the boy has been pretty chill hanging out on his computer, playing with his Nintendo and his camera all day. We're expecting his new iPad to come in tomorrow. He's really going to be excited about that, but we may have to hide it from him for a couple days until we figure out how to download some apps and such. I'm sure daddy's looking forward to playing with it as well.

The boy starts at his new school after Spring Break. I'm excited for him but a little nervous too. Change is always a little difficult. I really hope he'll be happy there and learn some practical skills for getting around in this big world. It was tough saying goodbye to his old teacher. She was really sweet and seemed like she was getting a little choked up too. I doubt the boy really understands what's going on. It'll probably take a little while for him to quit asking about his classmates. He adapts to change fairly easily so I'm pretty sure this will all be a new adventure to him.