Cool Change at last, but now the details are filtering in

The cool change came through last evening ... and it just kind of astounds me that it could be so stinkin' hot one minute, (we broke ALL heat records yesterday) but within a few hours, the temps had dropped 40+ degrees! Well, that's not a minute, but you know what I mean.

It's 14.1C (57.38F) right now, but yesterday, we hit an all-time high of 46.1 (114.98F) at the airport and by late afternoon, it had dropped right down to 15.5C (60F).
Let me tell ya, it was a miserable, miserable day... and with 4 special needs kids in care for the weekend, it was a battle to keep everyone quiet and at least somewhat cool.

Kids get cranky with the heat and 2 of my children ( 6 yr old with Downs and a 4yr old with Autism) well, they just did NOT want to settle. They moaned and groaned and picked and fought all day long. Tempers were high and I have to tell you, there were moments throughout the day when I could fully understand some species eating their young.

Against all Family Daycare rules and regulations, the kids were stripped right down to their underpants.. because even the air conditioner just could not keep up with the heat.
I felt that the heat had the poor little boogers stressed enough, so to keep them from being scared in addition to being heat stressed, I wore a little bit more than just my underpants. Let me tell ya, wearing a floor length caftan is not a good idea when you have 4 cranky kids all looking for something to do.

I think I spent most of the day trying to drag kids from underneath the caftan and as soon as I would get one out, another would take their place. I tried distracting them. I brought out the play-dough. I brought out the puzzles. I read books and put videos on. Nothing and I mean nothing, would distract them from wanting to play tents with my clothing.
And they thought that they were hot and cranky? Having small, smelly, sticky people crawling up your dress all day long always puts me in a bad mood too ... so it wasn't nice at all.

And do you know, only ONE parent called to see how their child was faring with the extreme heat? That mum had just given birth to another baby, and the first thing she did after getting back to her room, was have dad call and check up on their 6 yr old.
The others never made any attempt at all, which makes me wonder if it was a case of
"out of sight, out of mind", for those other parents. Which wouldn't surprise me at all.


Lord have mercy... it was a hellish day all around Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. with homes being destroyed, people dying in the fires and an uncertain/ undisclosed amount simply dying of the heat.
There was absolute devastation everywhere, and it wouldn't surprise me to learn that the toll is going to be much, much bigger than we can even imagine.

I checked the news first thing this morning, and within a space of about an hour, the initial reports of 14 deaths had risen to 25 and they're expecting a lot more once they can get into burned out areas.
It just boggles the mind.

And please spare a thought and a few prayers for the magnificent fire-fighter's and SES volunteers who are doing their absolute best in these horrible conditions.
God bless them all ...

He ain't heavy, he's my brother.

I read all your responses to my post about my young lad with autism and I can't believe

- or begin to tell you -

just how much your comments affected me.

I was in tears.

Literally.

Partly because so many of you "get" what I'm attempting to do, but there's also a part of me that feels like I'm being praised for, or congratulated for, something that, to me anyway, is no big deal.

It isn't worthy of praise.

I guess it's just my upbringing and the way I was raised, more than anything else.

See, I was brought up in a Quaker household.

My family have been Quakers ... practicing Quakers, since the 1630's.

The Underground Railroad... the Boxer Rebellion... Those weren't just history lessons to me.

My ancestors gave their lives for causes such as these.

They felt that good works should be done, not to bring merit to those who performed them, but because our Lord - and our salvation, plainly requires it .

It was for them - as it is for me today... a way of life.

We're ALL on this earth to do the best we can and to get through life in one piece, without doing any harm to others.. and to hopefully leave the world a better place.

All I'm trying to do, is to do the best that I can do...

And hopefully, humbly help others to do the same thing.

To help them be the best that they can be.

I am NOT special in any way.

My father didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.

~Clarence Budinton Kelland.

I'm going to post this and then walk away, before I have a chance to delete it...

Because I'm sure feeling right now that I've probably given you a little too much unnecessary information... and that I've bared my soul just a little bit more than I feel comfortable with.

But I think that y'all deserve an explanation, so that you can understand why I feel a little uncomfortable with your praise.

I appreciate it, but really... I'm not worthy of it.

I want you to meet Robynn... :-)

She's over there on my blog list, ( Robynn's Ravings) but her Mondays post was so funny that I just about died laughing. I almost busted a gopher gut here.
So if they ever discover my cold, dead body sitting at the computer, with sticky coffee all over the screen or keyboard... y'all will know it's probably Robynn's fault.

OH MY GOODNESS, this girl is funny... with a capital F !

You just have to read this !

>>Go here<< But I have to warn you... have the tissues and your Depends at the ready, because you're gonna laugh your patootie off !

Talking sh** !

Most of you probably don't know this, but I care for an 11 year lad with Autism, part-time / permanently. Which means that he "lives" with me for short or extended blocks of time, in order to give his mother - who has a hard time coping - a little bit of a break.

Lad doesn't speak, per se, but there are vocalizations that I've come to learn mean certain things. Plus, he has two words that are crystal clear.... a whispered haaaaaaaaat for any head covering, and a whispered caaaaaaaaar when he wants to go somplace.

But that's it.

Two words only.

We use Pecs cards as well - you know, the cards with a picture on them that relate to words for things, but he has little interest in them at all and has never been agreeable to using them for anything.

Now, to back up a bit, this young lad has only recently been toilet trained and we still have our fair share of accidents, but we're getting there. Praise the Lord... we're getting there!

When he got up this morning, I took him straight to the toilet as usual, and left him for a bit, while I got his clothes laid out.

I no sooner got halfway down the hallway, when he started yelling out. So when I went back to check on him, he had a huge smile on his face, looked me straight in the eye and said "shhhhhhhhhhhit !" And lo and behold... there was a shhhhh...poop in the toilet! And he just kept saying shhhhhhhhit shhhhhhhhhit while pointing at the toilet!!

I don't have a clue where he's learned the word "shhhhhhhhhit", because it's certainly not a word we use around here, but man... it did my heart good to hear it this morning !

And the eye contact that he made? That's unusual too, so I've got my fingers crossed that this is a break through!

Of course, when I flushed the toilet, I got a pretty bad reaction from him, mainly because I think that he felt it was his and he wanted to save it, but man... there are times you just have to draw the line!

He's now gone off to school on the bus, and I kind of wonder what the bus driver is going to think when he hears "shhhhhhhhit shhhhhhhhit shhhhhhhhit" for the next 30 minutes!

Koala's are HOT!

I was sent this in an email last night and it was just too cute not to share with y'all !
I don't know who originally sent it or who the pics belong to, so if I'm stepping on someones toes, I'm truly sorry - but it's just too cute!
(I'm also adding the text that came with the email.)


I truly am from a remarkable country! And we have THE cutest animals (AND some of the most deadly - I know!) But I thought you would appreciate how cute this is...!
At home in Victoria the temperature has been above 44 degrees all week and they are forecasting another week of 40+ temperatures. Power is failing, trains have stopped running because tracks are buckling under the heat . It’s just scorching. and it seems that the people are not the only ones suffering.
Check out these photos of a little Koala which just walked onto a back porch looking for a bit of heat relief. The woman filled up a bucket for it and this is what happened!

My perfect weight loss trick !

I discovered last night that I can eat anything I want and never again gain an ounce!

See, it was hot again yesterday, and a friend showed up in the afternoon, with a carton on Iced Coffee flavoured milk.
Now I know that I'm "big time lactose intolerant", but it just never entered my mind that that this stuff would affect me. Besides, Iced Coffee, poured over ice on a hot and humid day sounded so goooood... ya know? I never even thought of the "milk" part - just the "iced coffee" part.
So I had 2 small glasses.
BIG mistake.

We just had a light dinner of cold shredded chicken with veggies wrapped in tortillas, but I didn't have much of an appetite - due to the heat, which was causing me to have a tummy ache.. ( or so I thought)

But man.... by 8 o'clock, the stomach cramps hit. I paced the floor. I wept a little. I spent time in the "littlest room in the house". I paced some more and moaned for my mama. I wept. I Spent more time in the littlest room.
The end result, you ask?
I lost every calorie and bite of food that I've eaten in the last 113 days - all while sitting down !!

My belly is flat. My cheeks look gaunt. I've discovered (in theory anyway) that I can eat whatever I want - cakes, bread, KFC, candy bars, Scott Baio's Ricotta Cheese Puffs, lobster dipped in the purest drawn butter... And all I have to do is wash it down with a glass or two of milk. And lose a night's sleep! Easy Peasey!!

The lactose intolerance, is the reason that I only have a teeny tiny amount of milk in my coffee - because even that, makes me bloat up... and I'm left looking like I'm 15 months pregnant.
I teaspoon of milk causes me to bloat. A glass (or 2) of milk causes me to bloat, but then I rapidly ermmmmm... "un-bloat".

How clever am I ??

I'll be looking just like Heidi Klum in no time !

Remember Scott Baio? What a Cheese Puff !

Do y'all remember Scott Baio? He used to play Chachi Arcola on "Happy Days", Chachi again in "Joannie Love Chachi" ... and then he did "Charles In Charge". But he did nothing for me emotionally...

That is, until I found out he could cook a mean ricotta cheese puff. The guy grabbed my heart the minute I found this recipe in The TV Guide.

These are so quick and easy... and my kids used to love them. I tried my darndest to find a photo, but there was nada out there. And it's too hot to cook right now and then take a pic for y'all, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

( And Sherri? If you ever want to bribe Josh, these will do the trick every time. He would even muck out the horse pasture for these.)

Scott Baio's Ricotta Cheese Puffs

1 c. all purpose white flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2 tbsp. white granulated sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1 lb. tub low fat Ricotta cheese

2 1/2 c. vegetable oil

Powdered sugar to sprinkle

Using a cooking thermometer, (which I never do btw, because I'm lazy that way) heat vegetable oil in a deep saucepan to 375 degrees.

Mix all other ingredients together except for powdered sugar.

Carefully add a tablespoon of mixture at a time to hot oil.

Within a minute, (and I mean a minute or less, so keep an eye on them) balls will form puffs and turn a golden brown.

Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Serve warm.

Makes 2 dozen Ricotta Puffs

One word of warning:

These splatter when you cook them. So wear an apron and keep the kids back . And if the kids are out of the way, you can sneak a couple, without them knowing.

You'll thank me... really you will. But I'm afraid your hips will hate me.

Random Acts of Kindness...

I had a dream last night and although I can't remember much of it at all, I do remember that I kept being told by the brother of a friend I had in the 4th grade, to "do good things".

So while I was waiting for the coffee to finish dripping this morning, I checked my inbox and one of my favorite "quotes for the day" was sitting there.
Todays quote was:

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again"
~ William Penn

And after the dream I had last night, I got all goose-bumpy, let me tell ya.

After the coffee was ready, I sat down again to check through the rest of my emails and there were several from friends of mine asking me to pray for their friends and family right now. I mean, I get these requests occasionally, but today there were far more than usual. Times are hard and a lot of people are going through things they never thought they would experience and since I love my friends, of course I'll pray for them.

But the part that really made my goose bumps get goose bumps was that I also received an invitation from a friend on Face Book to join the group,
"Karma Experiment - Pay it forward."

"You have been invited to participate in a karma experiment. As you are aware many people are going through tough times and we wanted to see if it is possible to change a person's karma.
~~Objective: Start something positive by sending good karma to every one of your friends by inviting them to this experiment.
~~Experiment: To increase a person's karma by doing a random act of kindness.
~~Outcome: The more friends that join and take action the better your karma will become."

Well, of course I joined, although I usually ignore the invitations on Face Book (*blushing*)... because to me, FB just seems so busy or cluttered. (just my personal opinion here, but if you love FB, that's great!)
Because obviously something or someone was trying to tell me something, with all the "Kindness" quotes, requests for prayers and then the Random Acts of Kindness invitation.

So I'm going to do this. I know that I can do this. I CAN make a difference in someones life.
Even a small difference is a difference that can improve someone's life in ways that we may never understand.

Would you like to join me in trying to make a small difference in the world?

If you do, could you post a comment with the act or acts of kindness that you've done for someone today ?
It could be an inspiration for someone else... and it's possible that it could snowball to other, unknown people. And if it does, wouldn't that be a wonderful thing?

"Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on; 'twas not given for thee alone, pass it on;
Let it travel down the years, let it wipe another's tears,
till in heaven the deed appears, pass it on"
~Henry Burton