Questions on Family Policy

Piano Boy Sings at That's Entertainment

Family-Policy Issue Questions

Question #1

This morning at 7:40, the phone rang. I did not get it. I felt that
anyone calling at that hour didn't deserve to talk to a real person
and it was probably just one of Piano Boy's friends.

But it rang again and I worried it might be an emergency or the school
calling or you needing soemthing so I picked it up. It was Piano Boy.
He wanted me to bring him his lanyard so he wouldn't have in-school
separation. I was very angry because he forgot it yesterday, also.
When he came home yesterday, he showed me that he had three of them.

I told him I would do it this once, but I would not do it again, that
it was HIS responsibility to remember it. This is what I thought BB
had said.

BUT I couldn't find it. Since he'd called me, I thought he might have
his cell phone and tried to call to ask, but if he did have it, it was
turned off. So no info from him. It took me a LONG TIME to find it.
It was under stuff in his room, of course, ON THE FLOOR.

Then the traffic was terrible, especially around the school. It took
me a LONG time to get to where Piano Boy was waiting.

By the time I got there, I was really furious at him.

I asked him couldn't he keep some of the extras in his locker in case
he forgot. He said, "sure." the way he does, just to shut me up.

He did not give me 50 cents for the gas etc. :-( (This is a family
policy trying to teach him about the value of money the cost of gas
etc, after he allowed TWO expensive bicycles to be stolen by not
locking them.)

Question #1. What is the family policy about forgotten lanyards? (I need to know.)

Question #2:

I went to bed furious at Piano Boy and started my new day furious at Piano Boy.

I told him to practice last night and that he was on a 30-day
challenge and he told me Mrs. Lindow would understand that he had
homework. I asked him if he was going to lie to her and tell her he
had homework that kept him from his practicing when in reality, he
dorked around before and after theory and before and after robotics
and the homework took him about 5 minutes--dunno how good a job he
did. I think HOMEWORK and practicing comes BEFORE dorking around and
robotics. I told him that if he could not manage his practicing and
homework he'd have to drop out of robotics. Dunno if BB supports
that.

I heard Mrs. Lindow tell him that if he missed a day he had to start
over. I think he should do an HOUR today in two half hour segments.
Should I call Mrs. Lindow and ask her?

Question #2: What is the family policy regarding homework,
practicing, practicing during the 30-minute challenge, and robotics?

I want to be a good mother. I want to be loving and supportive and
helpful, but without being an enabler. I don't want to encourage him
to think of us as his servants. I don't want to encourage him to lie
in order to not do what he's supposed to do. I'm not sure how to find
the appropriate balance.

The Unblinking Insomniac Eye

It's 4:30 Am. I've been awake all night. Not just awake, up. Up out of bed all night because I was too agitated to even lie there. Went to bed at 11:45, lay utterly awake until 1:55, couldn't stand it, got up. I'm exhausted. It's par for the course, but that doesn't make it any better.

Wolverine, taking a dump

Detroit Zoo

kiss

kiss

The night flowering Milkweed in the midst of migration

I had to put a picture here, I don't like too much text without
photos, I never got past picture books.

This one has two layers of Apohphysis fractals layered into it.

Click to view larger.

Report on the allergy regime for Thursday, 9-11-08

Today is Thursday. 9-11-08, the 13th day of the regime, which I'd also done for a week before that. But that got ruined.

Yesterday, on Wednesday, I ate nothing but broccoli (and a very little bit of brown rice.) The day before, Tuesday, I fasted. Ate nothing at all all day. The ten preceding days, I ate nothing but brown rice. This is an allergy testing diet I am on. But I am also losing weight. I lost 17.8 pounds since I started the regime and 37.8 since January, down 1.8 pounds from yesterday.

After I fasted, I had my best night's sleep in months. After I ate broccoli, I did NOT! I had a very bad night!

S: Terrible insomnia! Was awake all night until after 4:30, then slept restlessly and poorly 2-3 hours.
S: symptoms:
· agitation and restlessness at night,
· stomach (intestinal pain, cramping and nausea, diarrhea,
· increased (worsening) muscle and ligament tightening, and this discomfort,
· grouchiness, anger,
· excess mucous,
· swelling in feet (puffiness) (A sign of toxemia).
· tiredness!
· leaving letters out of words (common when I'm having these symptoms.
· I had a couple others, too, but I've forgotten them now :-(
Could all these symptoms be caused by the BROCCOLI (which I thought was the SAFEST thing to add first--I was going to add all the safe stuff first and then the less safe stuff so I'd have more variety! I decided to move on to the next test: shrimp! And go back and retest broccoli later.

Diet Report for 9/9/08

I have completed ten days of the brown rice cleansing diet.  I have lost 14.7 pounds since I first started the rice diet and 34.8 pounds from my high point of the year.  Weight is important, VERY important, but it is not the primary purpose of the diet.  My primary purpose was to clear my symptoms for allergy testing and I do NOT feel fully "cleansed" and cleared.  I am not feeling radiantly healthy.  My symptoms, while significantly better, are NOT gone.  They are BETTER.  I have bruisy (painful) tender trigger points, stiffness and pain in ankles, some pain in neck, general stiffness, but definitely improved.)  my hayfever and asthma allergies to ragweed--this is the worst season for it RIGHT NOW--are about 95-98% cleared by this diet! I was considering a day of total fasting to see if the high starch content or other aspect of the brown rice could be contributing to my symptoms.  I have to decide now whether to go on to the next stage of the allergy testing diet by adding broccoli or to fast for a day first.  Fasting is not a good tool for losing weight as the body reverts to conservation mode, but it could be a tool for testing blood sugar allergies caused by the rice itself.  I had a very tiny dinner last night, so I'm already hungry and not eager to fast.  But--WAHN--maybe I will.  Just to see.  When I ate rice cakes, I got worse, and I wonder if it's because the treatment of the rice made the starch and sugars more readily available.  Add broccoli tomorrow.  :-(

Gorilla Butt

Aiee!

insomnia poem

Leaf Lady send me this poem about insomnia.  My insomnia is like this only worse.  It has been somewhat better than usual lately, much (but not all of the time)--my "light therapy" (spending more time out in the sunshine especially early in the morning) and diet therapy (avoiding sugar and allergens) seems to be helping quite a bit.

Hi Mary -- I got the cutest book at a yard sale today -- poems written by Marchette Chute (best known, to me anyway, for "When I climb up to get a drink"). She also illustrated it with cute silhouette-type pictures, and presumably hand-printed the verses too. It was published in 1941 and reprinted in 1946. I got it free cuz the guy was giving away all the books.

 

Anyway, this one reminded me of your sleep troubles.

 

AT NIGHT

By Marchette Chute

 

I've been awake, and been awake,

I've counted lots of sheep,

I've shut my eyes up very tight,

But still I'm not asleep.

 

My pillow has gone somewhere else,

My sheet has crawled away,

I've counted up to ninety-six,

And still it isn't day.

 

There's nothing here to do at all,

And nothing here to see.

I'm very tired of the night,

And very tired of me.