Week in my life as an Entrepreneur, Autism

I'm an autism mom. My life is about making sure that my child progresses and I don't take no for an answer. But my life is not just about my child because I have to make a life for us. I love Doodle and want to give her every option possible under the sun. Long gone are the days where we traveled so much for extra speech and OT therapy.

Doodle transferred to a school where she regressed to being mentally 2 years old and she was 10 years old. We had gone from almost being to her age mentally as she was physically. That was so hard to live through. It really felt like I was living in a nightmare. But the anger that boiled in me was the worse. And that bubbled for two years straight. All because the new school refused to listen and didn't implement the fundamentals for special needs children across the board. Something the entire class would have benefited from. Picture schedules, training, one on one. Never got that. It was basically two years of a free babysitting service. Home life was a nightmare and summers were the worst. The only school work she did was the homework sent home. And that's because I demanded that. But the homework was kindergarten work. Color the shapes, very simple math such as 1+2=. Doodle was frustrated beyond belief and so was I. I was that parent that held an IEP meeting every single week which is why I was not able to create the magazine sooner. The research that went into the meetings, the notes and graphs on Doodle's progress that needed to be created for each one. The convo's back and forth with lawyers. All of this became too much for the she was at at the time. So she was pushed into the special needs school of my choice. That along with one of my customers at the large craft store that I work for got Doodle in without the waiting list.

And with Doodle being in this school, which is considered the cream of the crop of schools for our area, it's just like she's in a private school. I love it. She's treated like a regular child with no issues. Which is what she wants to be treated like. All children with special needs want to be treated like normal kids. I have no regrets.

Everything for school has been purchased. I have to clean out my vehicle because I have so many canvases in them for future classes for my publishing company. And those need a lot of research for them. For the past three weeks I have been working every single day. Nights and then the flip to days and back to nights. It was getting seriously overwhelming. And of course the magazine had to be finished. My deadline was for the 26th of July and I had to meet that deadline. By the day of I still had to get everything put together. I got everything turned in 55 minutes before midnight. It was completed and my stress levels could be lowered. And now it's the 30th of July and it's time to created the next magazine.

But last week was the best week of my life. I had been working on a deal for awhile with another art company here in our town that finally came together. I invited all the employees to my class and most showed up. Yes, they are considered competition but hey I don't really care. Anyways, the key employees showed up and I was able to showcase my clear gesso. Got the deal I needed! When it comes to paint pouring even the ones who have never done a paint pour always want cells. That's not suppose to be an easy feat to accomplish. With my clear Gesso they are able to achieve that. I had been working on that deal for a very long time. But I got the deal and that's all that matters to me.

The next day district was in town and I had a class that morning. It was the perfect time to go for what I wanted next. I want to be the next Michaels Maker. I was given the endorsement from district and they are contacting the people that are in charge of that to make it happen. It doesn't hurt that I work hard to make sure we are number 1 in district.

But now that school will be getting back into session and Doodle will be coming back home in the next few days, my schedule is slowing down except for the magazine. But I can now breathe and juggle the rest of schedule with the publishing company.

But that's not the best news. The best news is one our regular customers came in to one of our events and informed me she was going to have her annual EEG and she didn't want to do it. I found out that after she's in pain for so long because of the glue in her hair and she was not looking forward. I informed her mom that I didn't have any regular size of my soaps but I would cut my bar I'm currently using in half and give that to her. This is a soap that I make myself. Created it up because Doodle loves bubble baths but she's highly sensitive to sls and slsa, so bubble baths are not always in her favor. These chemicals cause her to hurt herself because she feels as if she's being stabbed by 1000 needles. She hits her head, tries to rip her skin off. When you have a child with little speech or issues articulating what's wrong you do what you have to do. So I started making soap like my great grandmother used to do. From there evolved this soap. And I love this stuff. Not only is Doodle able to make bubbles in the tub with it but I'm able to remove dye, inks, resin, paint, stain and so much more when it comes to crafting and painting. I have people that use the soap to remove stains from clothing and get car grease off their hands and arms when they are working on their cars. Loads of uses. So now I have another customer and new batches of soap need to be made, which I haven't been able to get too cause there is only one of me. And the demand for my time and attention was overwhelming.

So that's how my week went and that's how life is during the summer. Next year I'm hoping Doodle will be going to see her dad earlier in the summer and she will be able to attend the special needs summer camp. I really think she will like that.

Well, that's how I roll. It's been a lot so I will see you guys on the flip side.

If you are interested in reading the magazine you can read it at www.jsncreative.com/ezine it's free and no I don't ask for emails and I don't have ads cause that sort of thing infuriates me. So it's kept off my website. Except for downloads. It's just required for the downloads of books, and soon online classes.

Summer and school Autism

In just a little over a week school will start back up. I have almost everything I need for this new school year. And that is a first. This year I did not participate in the no tax weekend. I was working. Which should not be of any surprise to anyone. The deep cleaning of the bedroom started last week and I'm happy to get it done before school starts.

Those who have children on the spectrum know how hard it is to keep a clean house because of said child. They like to destroy so many things and in the blink of an eye. How can you destroy something so fast? That I don't understand. I've already cleaned out 5 bags of trash and still have more to go. Maybe two more bags of trash to go. All I know is I got through a huge amount of cleaning before I realized there was no more room in the big can outside and just shoved the rest under the bed until I could get to it again. Which will now be this week.

And how are you able to get all this done you might ask. Normally, the deep cleaning starts when school let's back in and I can do it without complaint while Doodle is there. She's with her father this week. I tried to get as much done in a week that I could considering that I'm working every single day for the next three weeks, except for Sunday. But I work another job on the weekends so I get no days off, plus the magazine. When her father said he couldn't get the doctor's appointment done for Doodle I said well, keep her for another week and that will give me time to get the room done before she comes home. I hope he remembers that I absolutely have to have all the paperwork from her doctor for school. Or Doodle won't be able to have her breathing treatment in the event she has an asthma attack.

The magazine is coming along. I've gotten word that corporate is coming while I'm in the store this week. That should be interesting. I plan on wearing my new shoes that will be featured in the magazine for August. Everything is trucking along and I actually feel like I'm getting a bit of a break. It's actually kind of nice. I'm enjoying the peace but I still worry about Doodle. But this week is the big push to get the magazine done. The magazine has to be ready to go on the 26th. I'm actually having a lot of fun creating it. It's been a bit since I've really focused on my publishing company and I love it. Well, time to get back to work because tonight I get to work. We are decorating cupcakes. People normally walk through the door to do the cupcake classes but don't bring the naked cupcakes. I have plenty to share because that's what this world is about. Sharing and giving. Loving and rejoicing. That's how you get through the autism world. Sharing your knowledge, giving yourself to your child so they can learn, loving them no matter what. Loving them through the good and the bad and rejoicing for the progress.

See you guys on the flip side.

Bad Moods and Autism

Doodle gets her way a lot, mainly because she's an only child. She has a "brother" that's she's unofficially adopted who adores her so much. But let's face it she's an only child with a bad attitude when she doesn't want to do something. Which is why I stick to a strict routine when it comes to Doodle.

She likes to jump on the bed, which has resulted in breaking the bed over 5 times in the past 2 years. That one right there is starting to get on my nerves. She barely jumps on her trampoline anymore. It used to be my sanity saver, but since she now searches for bugs she refuses to jump on the trampoline. And that's a pain in my rear.

During this summer we will be putting up a sensory swing. Doodle loves to swing. It's her favorite hobby at school. Yes, her P.E. classes, weather permitting is swinging. All the kids play on the playground at school. All the grades do and even the kids in wheelchairs get to swing. Right now we don't have a swing up. We have plenty of swings but none that are hanging up for her yet. I think that might be something I should put on my list of things to do for tomorrow.

Because Doodle has had a foul mood since she's been sick and gotten over being sick. For 7 days she slept in my bed. Tonight, I finally got my bed all to myself. No more sleeping at the foot of the bed with feet on my face or in my back. FREEDOM!!! It feels so nice just to stretch out in my own bed again.

I did have Doodle make up her bed and she fought that every step of the way. But I had an ace in the hole. Cupcakes. I was suppose to teach a cupcake class last night but no one showed up and I had my own icing that I brought from home that is recommended for the class. If anyone shows up or not, I make sure my coworkers have cupcakes to make working with me bearable. I'm a handful. You think a kid on the spectrum is bad, try a fine arts instructor who on occasion will put the paint brush in their mouth so they can move the canvas and sometimes it's the wrong end of the brush. So a fine arts instructor that eats paint. It's fine, I haven't died yet.

She wanted a cupcake in the worst sort of way. Well, if she wants a cupcake she's gonna work for that cupcake that looks like a muppet!

Another ace in the hole is Reese's peanut butter cups. Doodle doesn't like to put away the iPad at night. Well, if she wants a Reese's cup she's gonna put away the iPad. It's all in how you ask it. Time to put away the iPad. Sometimes the result is a no. Are you ready for a Peanut Butter cup? That always gets a yes. You have to charge the iPad if you want one. And that gets the ball rolling. Barely any fighting back. I like to put the iPad on charge at 6:00 pm. That gives her mind plenty of time to let the melatonin work it's magic and she gets a good night sleep and I can get a good night sleep.

And now it's time to worry about school starting up again. I know 3 or 4 weeks away for us, but I want to make sure that we are ready to walk in the doors with no issues. That's next weeks blog.

See you guys on the flip side. I have a magazine to work on. If you haven't seen it yet go check it out. It's free and you don't need to add your email address. FYI, there is a sensory section for DIY's in there. Just click and view! www.jsncreative.com/ezine