We've lost one of our own Autism

Our autism community is devastated over the loss of a young man by the name of Kreed. His parents ran the blog Kreed's World: A Complex Journey Through Autism.
We will all miss the smiling boy known as Kreed who enjoyed Five Guys and swinging. How he interacted with his mother. We all saw a bit of our own child in Kreed.

But let me tell you about Kreed's mother. When I first came across the blog two years ago I was in awe! A child on the spectrum who didn't live his life as a shut in. This is one of the reason's why I rebelled and make it a quest for us to get out. For if we and our children are out in the world, that is the easiest way to spread autism awareness. And for my child to learn how to be out in the world.

And she wasn't just taking her son out to restaurants, He was going to concerts! Now that's something I never thought my child would be able to do. But this is a mom who saw potential in her child. And yes, sometimes I forget there is potential in Doodle.

If we don't get our children out in the world and teaching them how to interact with those around us, we will never be able to show the world that our children do matter. Some kids on the spectrum have a voice, some children use their words. others use a dynovox, some like Doodle use a communication book, sign language or their parents try to speak for them.

Thanks to Kreed's mother, Erin and her blog she taught me so much of being an autism mom. What all I was doing wrong and what I was doing right. You see as a community we stand together and learn from one another. Some can really learn while the others sit back and watch.

And though Doodle is not being taught to my standards for her education, all that will change the next school year but at home because I applied what Erin taught me through her blog, Doodle has truly thrived. And though Five Guys isn't our favorite restaurant of choice, we found a home in Dairy Queen. Which just goes to show that our kids can be out in the community. And just recently we have been enjoying Rock n Roll sushi. Doodle is getting pretty good at chop sticks.

So on that note, because I do have so much work to do tonight and tomorrow before I work a double shift at work, preparing for the summer, giving kids something to do and Doodle's essential oil line, I want to say this.

Thank you Erin. Though I'm sure that you won't read this blog. But thank you for sharing your journey and your son with us. You may not realize it but you have taught some of us a lot about ourselves and a lot about our children. I hope that you continue on with posting some of the information that you know.There are still a crop of parents that need your information and your help. We will all miss Kreed, but rest assured there is a little bit of Kreed in all of our kids, when they make us smile. When they are silly and when they are swinging or jumping on the trampoline. For we will never forget the boy who loved the color orange and loved his superman shirts. And we will never forget what Kreed has taught us.

We will never forget Kreed, the true super hero.

My perspective of Autism

Autism is, yes apart of my life but I don't let it control my life. Most of the time I can look past the autism to see who Doodle really is. She's super talented when it comes to art. Yes, she is one of the few children on the spectrum that has that ability. Not all children with autism develop a talent. That's a myth that all children on the spectrum develop talents.

But in all honesty since she was an itty bitty she's had a marker, crayon or pencil in her hands and always under strict supervision. When she was 6 months old and stopped speaking I had her doodling. When Doodle was 5 months old she spoke her first word and that was momma. About a day later she said dada. Two weeks later those were gone and replaced with baby gibberish again. When I first feed her baby food as an itty bitty she refused me feeding her. She was highly insistent on taking the baby spork from my hands and fed herself. It just blew my mind. And she was not even missing putting the food in her mouth.

I've always known there was something special about her. To me she's an amazing kid. And it's very rare I even look at the fact that she has autism. So when I see parents say they hate autism, referring to their child's disability, it really breaks my heart. I wouldn't change Doodle for anything. I have always embraced her autism, just like I embrace my quirks. I'm not autistic but I spend a lot of time trying to remember that yes, she does things differently, she sees things differently.

I'm not perfect and neither is anyone else. When I have a lot of writing to do I twirl my hair and some times in the section of my hair, yeah I have a bald spot. I also have a fantastic hair stylist who corrects that with the style she gives me. No one knows it's there but myself and my hair stylist.

Our children have a different way of doing things and sometimes they can scream at the top of their lungs for hours. Or do the guttural stem that grates your nerves worse then nails on a chalk board. That's the one that drives me up the wall. The out of no where screams, oh those just make me want to rip my hair out! She's only done that twice and it was more or less mimicking one of the kids in her class. The first time she did it we were walking in the neighborhood and we were just passing an elderly gentleman who was painting his mailbox. Out of her mouth pops this blood curdling scream that scared me to death and scared this poor gentleman to the point he dropped his paint brush on the ground. So much for that white mail box if he wasn't finished. I just picked up the pace on my walking and acted like nothing happened. The second time she did it I told her she was going to start loosing some of her prized possessions. It hasn't happened since.

And of course Doodle has been mimicking other autistic kids in class. There is this hand figet thing that one of the other girls in class does. She got popped on her hand for it. She's not going to be doing what is not her stem. And of course this vigorous rocking back and fourth. That came from another kid in her class. She pretty much stopped that on her own when she liked to have knocked herself out while attempting that one on the bed. All I heard was CRACK! as she hit the rail to the top bunk bed while sitting on the bottom bunk. She said, "Hospital, hurt head." My reply was, "You don't need a hospital, you did that to yourself by mimicking what you aren't suppose to do."

If she can stick with her own stems then I'm fine with that and I reward her for good work and good behavior. Dairy Queen is her favorite place to be so she gets an ice cream treat when she can behave. Other then that, autism isn't so rough. Not like it used to be back when she was non verbal and thought everything was funny. I guess life can be pretty laughable once you look around.

And since I've gotten rid of my phone she doesn't elope as much as she used too. For those who are unsure, eloping is wandering off. I try to keep an ear out for verbal stems when in a store if the store has racks and not actual aisles in it and she wants to explore. Other then that she has to stay right beside me at all times if she's quiet or the store is set up like a grocery store and you can't see the next aisle over.

Sometimes when it comes to autism you just have to have patience and gaining your child's trust. Last night I taught a class full of kids. Which is a first because they normally don't come to the adult classes. But hey I don't mind I will teach anyone as long as they are ready to listen and learn. One young man wasn't having any of it. Hey, that sounds a lot like my child most of the time. No supplies and no way to do the work. He was ready to get the heck out of dodge. His guardian handed me the money to get his supplies and I ran out of the classroom to track him down. Once I found him I started building trust with him. At the end of the night he was one of the best kids in the class. So proud of himself for what he did and I was proud of all the kids.

I love what I do. I take pride in my job as a mom to Doodle and an art instructor. I'm changing lives with one hobby at a time. I just look at it this way. She will always have the mind of a child. And she will hopefully always have a heart for the Lord. She's got instant access into Heaven according to the Bible. Which is kind of surprising considering the conversation that I just had with her not 20 minutes ago. Which was a bit odd and out of the blue. I posted this to my social media cause I've already typed it out once and I'm kind of tired of typing right now.

She's listening to Love me like there's no tomorrow by Freddy Mercury. She started crying and I asked her what was wrong. She said, "kill." I asked, "who kill?" She didn't answer. Then she said, "say goodbye to friends." I asked why. She replied with, "he's coming back soon." So I asked who. She said, "Jesus." And of course I reminded her that, he told us he was coming back. This is just out of the blue. Now she's back to laughing at video's, like that conversation didn't just happen.

You guys have a great day.

It's not been quiet and Special Olympics Autism

From your end I've been very quiet. From my end, it's been hectic! So here's the deal. My last post I made mention that we were preparing for Science Fair and water color was getting everywhere. A lot of things have been found out that you as parents need to be made aware of for your kids. Parents who read my blog are parents just like myself who push the schools and push your kids. Some of your kids are like mine and are in self contained classes. But before any of that, here is the back story.

I'm the class mom in the classroom. You guys knew about that at the beginning of the school year. Especially, my displeasure with the parents in the class during the Fall/Halloween party. So I had my duties for the class to prepare for Special Olympics. All of which came out of my pocket because well only two parents paid their part for their kids crafting time and seat cushions that I made.

I pulled a muscle in my shoulder and have been battling that pain while trying to get all my work done. I teach art and calligraphy classes at Michael's craft store so I pretty much stay on top of going above and beyond even in pain. FYI frankincense works great for 8 hours of relief but the pain does come back. I was helping out at the school for book fair, something that I was looking forward too this year. And of course we had the writing event at school, Science Fair and Special Olympics.

This is the way that I do things and the way I look at things. Our kids are largely ignored by the school. There are no PTA fundraisers for our class and our kids are pretty much treated as lepers. So there is nothing wrong with me being the class mom, because as I kind of hinted to the teacher I don't mind being the bad guy to make sure that our students have a fighting chance. I'm used to being Doodle's voice and in most cases I can be just as loud and scary as Doodle can be. That's my job as her voice.

Doodle did the science fair, that post will be later on. Not in this blog but what you need to know about has to do with it. I found out though the school news letter that Doodle's grade was doing the science fair. And it was due in a month. When her project was presented, it was the planets because she knows the planets, their order and all the bits of info on them. There was not enough time to try to teach her about a synopsis, conclusions, predictions, you know all the good stuff that goes along with a good science fair project. That would take months to teach her and we only had a month to get this done. Anyways, I got to go see her project in the library with the rest of her grade level. And there is where the problem fell. Seeing all these projects, many that looked the same. So many students doing similar projects. Hold up now! That means that parents and teachers were on the same page of what to do. Why was I left in the dark? Checking some of the kids work, it went all the way back to November! NOVEMBER! Hold up! Why was I not informed? But that's not the best part. I bought all of Doodle's supplies. The tri-fold, the planets, the paints. Everything came out of my pocket. The entire fourth grade got their tri-fold and information sheets of what to do for free! And Doodle was left in her class to be ignored by the school.

Did you know that according to IDEA which is apart of our rights, all children that have special needs are to do as the regular ed students. They have the exact same rights as the normal students and yet Doodle's rights were ignored??? Want to tell me how right that is. If you are a pushing parent like myself, keep that information to heart. Start stalking your childs grade level and make sure you keep an eye on that school news letter.

After Doodle turned in her project, it was only then that the regular ed teacher for Doodle's grade level started submitting work that Doodle needed to do. How do I know this happened? Well, the homework changed. It wasn't what had been coming home. Talking to Doodle's teacher, it was then the regular ed teacher remembered that Doodle was in the school. So that just tells me I have to work even harder now. And yeah, if I have to act all mafia on a school teacher so be it. I will stroke under my chin and get them something to remember. Because, yeah, I'm a jerk of a parent to deal with. I also have a heard of gold and a huge spot in my heart for my daughter and her classmates.

Now back on task. Doodle is out for spring break, I'm not busting my hump to get her to keep up in school with events so the pain in my shoulder has been gone for about a day now. It had to have been the fact that I was really stressing over everything that needed to be done. Doodle penguin walked the 50 meter. The starter gun freaked her out again. And the girl who was to keep up with Doodle well, she did more running on the field trying to catch Doodle then Doodle actually did in the 50 meter. And yeah I was heard on more then one occasion asking why my kid was running wild on field.   She did the ball toss this time around, because we got rained out on that one last year. And the bus got hit by a car coming back from Special Olympics.

As class mom, I had a car load of everything that needed to be in the stands for the kids that were not participating. Figet fingers, seat cushions, incentives, umbrellas and of course water. And I'm kind of glad that I had what was needed because the "adults" watching over Doodle's classmates spend a lot of time on their phones. They didn't even think to bring incentives to make sure the kids didn't make a break for it and stayed in the stands. Kids are happier with small candies when your sitting in stands and can't do much. Figet fingers is also a great distraction. Especially for the screamer in the class.

I had gone to pick up one of the parents that morning that wanted to go but had no ride and since I had already decided that I wasn't going to ride the bus this year I gave her my spot. And I'm really glad I did. After the wreck happened and the school informed me, I went and picked Doodle up straight from the scene and we started spring break early. I didn't have to worry about giving a ride to the parent that I picked up, Doodle's teacher told me that one of them would give her a ride home. I might add that Special Olympics day was my birthday and I was ready to be done with the day! I was ready to spend time with Doodle's father who had come into town just to see Doodle in her event and spend time with Doodle. Okay I will admit it. I was looking forward to him watching Doodle so I could shop without having the beggar with me. I promise you every single store I go into she has to leave there with something! My poor wallet really hates me when I try to window shop and Doodle is with me.

So that's about it in a nut shell. You guys have a great night. I'm going to play some Sims 3 for a little bit and then I'm heading to bed. Tomorrow is another busy day for me as I have to bathe a dog and start working on my 1940's bathing suite. I'm sorry I'm not about to pay over $150's for a bathing suite when I got all my supplies for it for under $40.00 with enough material left over to make Doodle a bathing suite also. All of my work for open house on Saturday at work is done and I'm still looking around at the things to change my web page around too. I think I will tackle that next week, after I get a mani pedi when Doodle goes back to school.

As in the words of Froggy from my frog stuff, Happy Crafting! And you guys have a great night and a great day!

I don't have all the photo's as they are on my camera. But here's some that I took and a friend of mine took. Yeah, she came and stood in the stands with us along with another of my friends.

One of my dear friends, Stacey. She made the shirts. She rocked it out with the shirts! I'm the one with the Creative Lifestyle shades on. 

At least I thought as I was leaving the scene with Doodle in her fathers' truck to take a picture because seriously who would have believed me.

Doodle wanted to wave to the crowd.

Doodle getting ready to throw the ball.

Go big or go home Autism

I think I've already done a go big or go home post. I can't remember. It's one of my all time favorite sayings because that's the way I do my life. Doodle is going to do something and I will push her to get that speech and I will get her to do that OT. Her teacher used to always go big when it came to submitting Doodle's work for art competitions. And now it's my turn.

At Doodles' school they are having a family writing event. To show the importance of love and togetherness through everyone's writing abilities. First off, never ask a writer, publisher or artist to submit work for these types of events. Because you know there will be parents who get their feelings hurt as another parent takes the cake. No surprise I'm the parent that went all out. Of course it doesn't hurt for where I work part time and it being Michaels craft store.

Here's the deal. The kids had to write a piece for this event. It was suppose to be during school with the teachers help. But the teacher asked me to do this. Not a problem. And yes I cheated. I went to shelsilverstein.com they have tons of kits to help teachers and parents to allow their kids to learn all about poetry. I took about 2 hours going through all the kits to find something that Doodle would be able to do. And I found it. It was really easy, all she had to do was just put in the words at the end that described herself. Okay, that was easier said then done. That took at least 30 minutes just to get Doodle to figure out what to even say about herself. Scientist popped up a lot. After I filled in what she said about herself, the next day she wrote it out. I of course used my work ruler to draw the lines and all she had to do was just copy what was on the paper.

I wanted her to try to write with at least ink on bristol board but that wasn't going to happen. So I opted for regular drawing paper that I use when I teach drawing in my classes. It's a sturdy paper so it's not going to have a problem with getting ripped when send to school.

Sunday morning I finished my artwork on my poem about Doodle. And this morning I laminated it myself. I used contact paper because yes I used bristol paper on my piece for this event. I had an option of writing a letter to my child but that wouldn't get me BIG. Remember, I'm the go big or go home mom. So I combined all the elements where I can use this piece in all of my classes to show case what we have to offer. Which would be drawing, painting, and two types of calligraphy.

And what would an autism post be about if something isn't getting wrecked? Not my art piece that's for sure, but the ipad will never be the same. As long as it won't cost me an arm and a leg to have it fixed I will be fine with saving up for this to get fixed. But Doodle and I have a concert to go this weekend and I have shirts to buy for the upcoming Special Olympics meet next month on my birthday. I will tell you in advance, you will not be hearing from me that Friday in April.

Hope you guys have a great day, as of right now I am typing this and dodging paint splatters coming over the tri-fold. Doodle has a Science Fair project due next week, so that's what she is working on right now. She's not the form of autism that she can do a proper science fair project but they are letting her at least enter with what she does know and that's the solar system. More on that in a later blog post.

The sketching phase after the ink went down for the calligraphy.

I used gouache to paint everything on the bristol board.

The easiest form of lamination for such a large project. Contact paper. Does a fabulous job every time.

And this is what the ipad looks like now.

When you're sick Autism

So apparently being sick right now is not just localized in the south. Right now we are in early spring and the pollen is flying! So of course we are sick with allergies. I was down for about a day and a half. And as you might imagine I can't stay sick for long.

Because my nasal passages were swollen I needed relief to breathe. My biggest problem was I was called into work because they had set up a quick calligraphy class for me to teach. Not a problem except I couldn't breathe. Here's a quick tip to bring the swelling down so you can breathe like a normal human being. Put coconut oil on the bridge of your nose and if you need even faster relief put it under your nose too. Next with just a drop of peppermint oil run that over the coconut oil you placed on your nose and under your nose. This is a quick way to dilute the essential oil. Remember you need to use essential oil not peppermint extract as that is used for cooking not for the promotion of healing. Under your nose will begin to sting but you can wipe it off with a tissue if it gets to be too strong to handle.

In less then 5 minutes I was able to breathe again and no one knew I was starting to get sick. At this point I was able to put my make up on with not a problem.

When allergy season hits your go to oils are peppermint oil and lavender oil. In the above solution to breathing it's not suggested to use lavender oil. Peppermint oil is a lot like icy hot. It works fast and has the sting of icy hot. For when you have aching muscles, mint or peppermint oil should be your go to oils for relieving muscle aches and swollen nasal passages.

I have also been diffusing in my diffuser oregano oil, frankincense oil, lavender, eucalyptus oil, rosemary oil and tea tree oil. They all work great together for promotion of healing. If you are very congested I suggest that you add some peppermint oil to your diffuser as well.

If you are trying to sleep and you are coughing I highly suggest that you place on a cotton ball tea tree oil, rosemary oil and eucalyptus oil. Mixing these three oils yes I know, smells like vick vapor rub. Rub the cotton ball on the bottom of your feet. This will help keep you from coughing in the night and you get a restful sleep.

Along with my elderberry tea, your body can't help but to heal faster. I'm not a big fan of the whole greens thing. I think green drinks from the health food store are great for flu season, but this isn't the flu it's allergies. Elderberry tea or elderberry wine (if your over 21) do just great with getting you well again. I haven't seen elderberry wine but my mother says they used to make it in our family a long, long time ago.

Those are my tips and tricks for getting well as quickly as you possibly can.

Fireberry tea is my all time favorite. Elderberry if one of the main ingredients in this tea.

The greens that help you get well but taste oh so horrible in my opinion.

One of the many oils I use. The Now company is great on the wallet and as well as they work, yes they are pure. Don't let some "essential oil saleswoman" tell you any different. And yes I've wanted to throat punch a woman for telling me that young living was the only certified pure oil out there. No, it's not. Just because their oils are a higher price then the Now brand is because how else is she going to be able to make commission. All that is tacked in there. For the price of one bottle of their oils you are actually paying for it 3 times over. Trust me I know as I am pricing oils from the Spice district in India. So I know the price of the oils and how much they actually retail for.

Preparing for battle Autism

So apparently I'm only able to do blog posts once a week now. My schedule has yet to settle down and I've added a new piece of machinery to my arsenal. I saved up for the new Silhouette machine and I'm going into work Friday night to learn it.

And I taught our first calligraphy class tonight. It was pretty interesting. I was teaching my students the do's and don'ts of the fountain pen. I said, "Whatever you do-Don't shake your pen!" All while I was shaking my fountain pen. My students learned first hand why you don't shake your pen. Because ink just exploded out of my pen and I was covered! I taught my entire class covered on my face and neck in indian ink. Of course I played it off cause I teach one of the messiest classes there which is fine arts. I said, "If you're not getting messy in my class, you're not learning." Which is my motto because I always leave work covered in either acrylic paint or leads and graphite's."

Yes, I'm aware that tonight is Thursday and not the normal Monday, Wednesday or Friday that you would find a post. But like I said, my schedule has yet to settle down.

But this blog is not about work or what I'm doing with my business to grow it. It's about the battle that is brewing. Doodle had an eye appointment on Monday. I had been contacted two weeks ago to call in the insurance information. Which I did. When we got to the appointment on Monday and early I might add because the appointment was at 1:00. Since it was a new place I knew I had information to fill out and that takes time. So after my gps told me that being on the interstate was my destination, which it wasn't and getting turned around several times. I finally found the doctors office. And I was still early. Checking in, the girl chastised me for not getting the information in. Well, by this time I was already irked. I have a lot to deal with. I'm not married to this girl, I don't need a tongue lashing. I told her I did call it in. She checked the computer and said oh they didn't tell me. So she had to call our pediatrician to get a referral.

Of course our pediatrician was closed for lunch. So we waited an hour after our appointment time had come and gone. By 2:30 she was finally calling Doodle's doctor. 3:00 I found out that we had to be switched to a walk in. Hello, I did my part. I called in what the girl asked for. Don't tongue lash me because you dropped the ball.

Admit it, you have a kid on the spectrum and you have some of those Doctor appointments where you are mentally and physically preparing for battle. The eye doctor is one of those appointments. Doodle never cooperates. She has a bad eye and she's always trying to keep from using it. No matter what. So it's hold her down. Or force her to not turn around to look closer at the actual chart that's behind the chair. My child is not stupid. She knows how these things go.

And I'm just trying to get her some glasses that she will wear. I found a place where I can pay out of my pocket and she will get what she wants and they will even be tinted pink. Why tinted pink? Well, some places kids on the spectrum do better with tinted glasses, either pink or yellow. Dr. Temple Grandin suggests it so I'm going with it. The tinting won't cost me a dime. The glasses can be replaced when she breaks them which is a lot! And I can get two pairs of glasses instead of just one pair. Face it we all have that type of insurance that restricts you. Well, darn it, I'm not going to be restricted. My only problem is the place where I can get what I want can't handle Doodle to get an accurate reading on her eyes. So I'm stuck using insurance, to keep from putting some doctors kid through college. I mean I'm sure I could pay for it all myself but I would end up paying out of the nose and saving up for several months for them to charge me $200 to turn off the lights, $100 for Doodle sitting in a chair and $1000 for the eye machines. The insurance I hate it is!!!

So because we were switched to being a walk in and hoping that someone didn't show up and sitting there until well passed the time for her school to be out. I got fed up and rescheduled for Friday. Which means Doodle won't be going to school on Friday because this appointment is early am. And I'm sure by the time we get out Doodle will only have an hour to be in school. She's still on short days.

Mentally and physically preparing for this appointment is really draining! Not to mention that on Monday the only thing on my mind was all the work that I hadn't finished that I needed to get turned in before 5 that afternoon and at the rate it was going I only had an hour left. It was a horrible Monday. Next time I'm going to call an office up every hour on the hour and make sure they got the information that I called in to begin with.

I know some people think they are high and mighty in the position that they are in. But seriously, I'm usually pretty meek and try to hold my temper. The girl is lucky I didn't flip my wig on her. I was polite and beat feet to get out of there before I did lose my cool.

I think the only thing that saved that day was Dairy Queen for dinner on Monday. Doodle got to see her favorite person and she loved it. That's all that mattered to me. And FYI yes tomorrow we will be having DQ for lunch. That might be the only way that I can get her to cooperate and use her bad eye so they can see what needs to be done.

And well, like I said earlier I have a class to take at work to learn how to use my new machine. So there is a little break for me. Praise the Lord for small things! Hey I don't have girl friends to go out with on the weekends, so I opt to take free classes at work to get some me time. Though I am thinking I might get a mani pedi next week. I've earned it!

As time is ticking down for bed, I hope you guys have a great night. If you are reading this during the day I hope you have a great day!

Yes I'm getting Doodle Rose colored glasses.

It's an update Autism

I'm trying to wrangle in my finances. It costs a lot to raise a child on the spectrum. Heck any child with special needs are expensive to take care of. But this time around I'm trying to get financial freedom. And the fact that I work with fine arts at Michaels and in my regular business, life gets really pricey with what all you have to have.

In order to keep the school compliant with IDEA, Doodle will be participating with regular education students in the writing event in school. The teacher was suppose to work on this at the school, but with all the things she has going on in the classroom she doesn't have the time. So I took the opportunity to visit shelsilverstein.com to get some great help with accomplishing this. In one of the kits that are available free of charge there is a lesson on creating a non rhyming poem. All Doodle had to do was tell me who she is. And there is also a science fair coming up. Doodle can't create a hypothesis so a quick discussion with the school assured me they will accept a project of the solar system. As Doodle knows the solar system by heart and the order of the planets. Yeah, that's not gonna be costly (insert sarcasm).

I'm not sure if Doodle is able to swallow pills or if she's chewing them but I've had to go with a different melatonin, due to my health food store being out of the fast acting sleep aide. I've switched Doodle to a 6 hour time release that is pill form and it seems to be working the same way as the fast acting. She lays down at night, watches about 5-10 minutes of television and is out like a light.

I'm no longer using calm child to keep Doodle calm. Which saves me money there. And I'm trying my hardest not to buy any more essential oils though I use them every single day. Next month I will be purchasing essential oils for Doodle's line. The price will be what I need to keep her essential oil line affordable for all. And like all essential oils they will be tested for purity and how well they work.

Teaching over at Michaels craft store is pretty fun still. I love teaching fine arts and I will be teaching a new course next month. I will be teaching calligraphy and it won't just stop with the store. As I already have a back ground in creating "workshops/parties" I may be doing a calligraphy workshop. Which will help with becoming financially free.

I don't advertise my services unless it's for Michaels craft store but the other goes by word of mouth. And that seems to work fairly well for me.

And the best part is Doodle is beginning to grow tired of shopkins. She keeps getting the same two toys every single time we purchase one of the little baskets. She's not happy with that. She wants something different but I'm trying to teach her that we buy for being good not for just any time. Which is why I rarely take Doodle anywhere when I go out to buy for what I need. If Doodle is with me she wants it all. She seriously takes that song by Queen to heart when it comes to obsessions.

So now I can start a nest egg and feel better about Doodle and I doing it on our own. That's the most important part.

Later this week Doodle will be going for her eye exam. Which reminds me I need to find her glasses again. And with the insurance that she has I'm only allowed to get one pair of glasses and it's not by what I want or what she wants. Which means that Doodle won't like them. Which is always the way it goes. So I've got to make sure that I have enough to be able to get two pairs of glasses she wants with pink tint to them. Children on the spectrum do better if they have on glasses with a yellow tint to them or pink tint. It really helps with their sensory of sight issues. Which is why I mainly shop at Michaels craft store for crafts. I can't go into Hobby Lobby as the lighting affects Doodle. I haven't been in that store in almost a year.

And along with a full pallet, no pun intended regarding fine arts. I'm also learning how to code. Which is a bit challenging but worth it. I've posted a DIY to JSN Creative. This DIY has helped me to learn calligraphy a lot faster and with more ease. It will also help with illustrations that need to be done.

So this is why you haven't heard from me last week. I was working and taking care of Doodle as always. I'm researching, learning and preparing. It all just takes time.

You guys have a great day and I will talk to you when I get a free moment again.