bountifulplate

I received a call Wednesday afternoon for someone wanting to talk to my husband.  This person was someone that the hubby knew, but I had never talked to in my life.  She started rattling off her phone number before I had a chance to grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil.  I said, "you gave me that number so fast, can you give me it again?"  Her response back was, "didn't your husband "train" you to take messages?"  Wow, I was caught so off-guard by what she said that I didn't say anything.  First of all, she never once asked me who I was (I guess she assumed I was the wife).  Second, I felt that what she said in regards to my husband "training" me was kind of offensive.  If I knew her, maybe she could say something like that.  She doesn't know me from a hole in the wall. Lastly, after I told her that I would send my husband a message at work through e-mail to let him know that she called, she made a comment about my husband that w...

In a little less than two weeks from now it will be the two year anniversary of writing this blog. When I first started in July of 2011, I needed a way to get my feelings out. I remember going back and forth the few months prior to when I wrote my first post about whether I should even write a blog. Growing up, my sister was the writer in the family, not me! What did I know about a blog? what if nobody read it? what if I ran out of things to write about? What if nobody liked what I wrote?  I decided that I was going to go for it and I jumped into the blogging "pool."  In my early posts, I wrote a lot about my mother-in-law.  She passed away in January of 2011 and when I first started my blog, my emotions were still very raw.  I have written many posts about Dominic, because I know there are numerous families out there that have children with special needs and I hope that my blog posts help make you feel like you are not alone.  The only time I had ever heard of ...

Summer has definitely arrived where we live here in the Midwest.  Growing up on the East Coast, my parents had the air conditioning on for about six months or so out of the year. The hubby grew up in Cleveland and his parents lived in a much older home without central air conditioning.  Between my husband and I, there have been many a battle about when to put the "air" on in our house. It started getting pretty warm here towards the end of last week, so I decided it was time for it to come on. The projected temperature for the beginning of this week is supposed to be downright toasty.  Last night, a few hours after dinner, the hubby out of the blue said, "hey, how about we turn the air conditioning off?"  My response back was, "excuse me, but have you ever experienced premenopause or menopause?"  His response, "well, no."  I continued, "I have something called an internal heater that is always on!"  I went on to tell him, "unless y...

A couple of years ago when I was in an elevator with Lauren, two women started tossing the word "retarded" around in a derogatory way.  I was so taken aback that I kind of stood there with my mouth open.  Lauren told me that teenagers use that word jokingly, not really thinking twice that it might possibly offend somebody. That makes me kind of sad that the younger generation thinks that is okay, it really isn't. There is the best website connected with the Special Olympics, here is the link:  http://www.r-word.org/ .  It stands for "spread the word to end the word."  When the word "retard" or "retarded" is used within the content of a joke, in a derogatory way, as slang or as a slur, it is incredibly offensive, disrespectful and insulting to an entire segment of the population. Instead, let's use the word "special needs." I truly can't wrap my mind around how people actually think it's funny to use the "r" wo...

During spring break, Lauren went on a tour of the local university.  The hubby is much more familiar with the campus, so he drove her over to the building where the tour was starting.  When he got back home from dropping her off, I asked him how it went.  He said when he took Lauren to the room where the tour was beginning, there were already kids in the room waiting for the tour to start. Only one kid still had their parent hanging out with them. I asked him if he had thought about waiting with Lauren until the tour "officially" started and his response back to me was, "well, I don't want to be a "helicopter dad."  Dads, I think are sometimes especially overprotective of their daughters.  I know my own dad still kind of is even though I will be 50 in a few weeks :)  My hubby has two sons, but Lauren is his only daughter. Since the hubby is an only child and didn't have any sisters, he isn't quite sure about the "girl" stuff sometimes! Cas...

Yesterday, Lauren and I went shopping for some clothes for her (now is the best time to find deals on anything summer related - which is what she needed), plus of course I had some coupons that were expiring soon! Anyways, given that she was going to be trying things on meant we were going to be using a dressing room.  I have written posts about etiquette in the library, parking lots and manners in general, but based on yesterday's experiences and past ones, I felt that a post needed to be written about dressing room "etiquette."  Hang on, I'm hopping way up on my soapbox!!  The following are some rules that I wish my fellow shoppers would adhere to.  Rule #1 - to the woman a few feet away from us at one of the major department stores yesterday afternoon, while I'm sure you were happy to hear from your friend on your cell phone, launching into a ten-minute conversation about getting your hair done and your upcoming vacation to Illinois, at a minimum, could you ple...

As much as I love digital cameras and being able to see a picture instantly, I still like to have pictures that I can hold in my hands and look at.  I guess with Lauren just recently turning 17, I was getting a little nostalgic and started looking through old photos.  While sorting through a bunch I found this picture: The little girl sitting on the older man's lap is me when I was about a year and a half old.  The older man is my grandfather.  He passed away when I was about 5 1/2 years old.  I'm pretty sure that is one of my cousins sitting in the chair :)  One of the very few memories I have of my grandfather (my mom's dad) was riding in the front seat between him and my grandma in a car that had a green interior (a Buick maybe)?  I was so incredibly blessed to have had my grandmother for so long. This picture is from 20 years ago of my grandma and I, but it's a favorite: The picture below is her holding Lauren. She passed away when...