here in ohio

well, here i am in ohio. just today i mailed my holiday cards...oops. hey, better late than never. i have been hanging out with my girls and we even went to the art museum yesterday. it was just like old times. averie and baylor even joined us. it was great to see them. so far ella and janet have both been sick. let's hope that's the end of it!
i head back home the 2nd and can't wait to see my larsman!

super fun

if you want to see my signing christmas carols check out this link:
http://www.mercymusicvideos.blogspot.com/

too funny!

ick!

must i get sick during the last week of class???? i guess the answer is yes. i think that i am starting to feel better. not feeling so much like eating anything though. however, i somehow made it through my presentation last night and managed to get a 100% on it! yay! now it's just finishing this crazy developmental psych paper. 7 more pages to write. i will feel 100 lbs lighter after i put this sucker in the mail!

What are you doing Mimi?

Well, currently I am trying to finish a 15-17 page paper for developmental psychology. The developmental question I am working to answer is: "How do young children with visual impairments develop differently?" thanks to lars for being my inspiration! I really wanted to take a picture of my working area, but alas no camera. rest assured that it is covered in notes, tons of books, an empty wallaby yogurt container, room temperature cup of tea, and class handouts. Ah, the end of a semester.

name yourself

ok, who is jeep? seriously, show yourself.

things that help

these are the things that are making me stay afloat these days:
1. peanut m & ms.
2. glass of wine or a beer on a regular basis
3. lars nuzzles
4. the amazingness of my friends to hold me emotionally and sometimes physically, until i can stand on my own. without them i would be no where.

thought of the day

NEVER EVER BUY A HYUNDAI AUTOMOBILE

what i learned today...

1. do not wear ugg boots in snow/rain/slush weather. you will have very wet feet.
2. a new pair of socks can be really awesome when you have cold, wet feet.
3. people can make you feel like crap for having to cancel a commitment, even if your reason is completely out of your hands.
4. even though you have a 17 page paper to write, a 5 page paper to write, and 2 group presentations to work on, you can still have no motivation to do work.
5. it seems to be completely acceptable to walk around the lesley library in sock feet.
6. people from turkey get really excited to see snow (a classmate seeing it today for the first time in years)
8. only 27 percent of americans have a bachelor's degree.
7. when you think you have nailed down who you are is when the search begins again. (ok, so this wasn't today, but recent and relevant)

well, i wanted to make it to ten, but couldn't. feel free to comment about what you learned today.

 

Me, Lars and Kristin.

Nothing Exciting

Nothing really to report. I have spent the whole day doing work around home and stuff for school. The last 3 or 4 hours I have been sitting on the couch in Panera Bread working on my laptop. It keeps me from finding other things to be doing at home! Plus, I got to enjoy some yummy broccoli and cheddar soup and delicious French bread that went right from the oven to my plate. Yum!

YAY!

Kristin is here and I couldn't be happier!!!!!!!! We are off today for some major shopping at the fabulous Natick Collection.

disturbing...

Not sure how I stumbled upon this, but couldn't not share it with the masses. There is something coming to Boston called Russian cat circus. Yes, google away, it is real. There are 30 cats from Russia touring the world and putting on quite an expensive show. Tickets here are $50 and $60! This is a quote from one of the trainers. "American cats will see the Russian cats do tricks and want to perform also." No, I really don't see that happening. Plus, you can't take your furry feline to the show, so how are American cats seeing this? Probably YouTube. What freakish times we live in. Of course, I had to share pictures.

Halloween Pictures!

...thanks to Lisa's camera!

Joa aka Ozzie Osbourne
Lars as an adorable skeleton with a fever, but still having a blast

For the Love of Lars

So, thanks to freecycle I now have a car seat in my car for Larsman. It is in excellent shape and good to go. Tonight (in the freezing cold no less) I decided to put it in using the latch system. This is the safest possible way to install a car seat and also the most challenging. Nothing but the best for Lars. It was quite the challenge, but is now in there and I think that it might never come out. I'd put a picture, but alas...

Sadness

Well, you won't be seeing pictures on the blog for quite awhile.
Last night Andey and I took sweet, wonderful Lars swimming at the YMCA. We left our big bag that had our clothes, Andey's phone, my wallet and my camera in the family locker room. We had a great time, got home and put a tired boy to bed. I got into the bag to realize that the phone, camera, and wallet were gone. Intense sadness. Not over the material things, but over the fact that someone did this. Maybe it was out of serious need, but I doubt it. I would have given them the clothes off my back if that was the case.
It has put me in a very sad place. (thankfully I am seeing my therapist later!) Sadness about our world and those who are in it. Sadness for the photos on the camera that I will never see, for the tiny strips of paper that had deep sentimental value that i always carried in my wallet, sadness that I try so hard to help those I love and strangers, but things like this still happen. It's quite a blow. However, I have wonderful friends who totally kicked in and helped me process everything last night. I love you both, thanks.
I hope that the people that are now the owners of our things are enjoying them and that they sometime realize the pain that they have caused. But they have my total forgiveness.

YAY!

 

I am so happy to announce that Kristin will be able to come for Thanksgiving!!!! Air fare has been really high lately, but finally she found somthing reasonable. It wouldn't have been the same without her. I can't wait!
The picture is of us from last Christmas

Quote of the Day

"There's nothing like writing a 10 page paper towards your master's degree about psychosocial, cognitive, and moral development theories in dinosaur pajamas with feet."
-me
(In case you don't get it..that's what I am doing right now...well, after I post this.)

I have one awesome gig...

There is a great article that was just written in the Boston Globe about music therapy. Not that I don't know it's an amazing field, but it's great when others recognize it too. I already have so many great moments from this work that blow me away. If my clients get half as much from me as I do from them I will consider myself a success. It's an awesome feeling to truly love what you do and know that it makes the world a better place. Check out the article

There is a quote by Kathleen Howland. She is an awesome therapist and wonderful person. I babysit for her adorable daughter every now and then.

Oh, and GO SOX!!!!!!

Free Food!

Because of a 4th inning base steal in the world series game Taco Bell is giving free tacos to everyone. This will take place on OCTOBER 30 FROM 2-5 PM. It's not fine dining, but it's FREE!

Today I met...

...the parking fairy! She swooped in out of no where and saw me having difficulty parking in a tight space. This was a miracle find too, no permit needed, no time limit, no meter....a must have. She told me to get out of the car and she parked it with ease and to my amazement. Then she told me to have a good day and was gone. It was utterly amazing. Thank you parking fairy, thank you.

Woo Hoo!

Way to go red sox! Look out world series, here we come!

Any Ideas?

I need good costume ideas for Halloween. It must be easy and CHEAP!

Sweet Ride!

 

This is Joa enjoying the car that I rented for the weekend. What a fine time for my car to break down, right before I have to drive to CT for a conference at Yale. They gave me a free upgrade to this brand new Mustang. Worked for me!

Veggies!

 

 

 

 

Lars with pretzels. He actually ate one! For those of you that don't know Lars, it is very rare for him to take anything by mouth-besides bumpy blanket!
There are some great farmers markets around Harvard Square and I took advantage of them Friday. While I worked on dinner Lars explored the goods. He really enjoyed the leaf parts of the carrots. It was incredible to watch his examine and discover them with his hands. I have found that I often now will close my eyes to feel things. It's a totally different experience.

Apple Picking...sort of

 

 

 

 

About a week ago (I think) Lisa, Lars, Joa, and I went apple picking. It was a beautiful fall day in New England. We arrived at the orchard to find out that we were a few minutes past the time that you were allowed to pick. Oh well, we had fun anyway.
1. Joa with a scary looking branch
2. Lars discovering an apple tree
3. Let me at 'em!
4. What a classic site


Watch Lars' blog for pictures that Lisa took. She managed to get one of me falling as I ran down the hill pushing Lars in the stroller.

A broken record...

I feel like I have said this a million times, but here I go. I am having problems with my car....AGAIN. Only 2 weeks ago did it refuse to start after every possible intervention and ended up getting a new timing belt at $330. Then there was the month or 2 before that with the new radiator. Then a year ago with the new transmistion. Sigh, I am getting a little sick of this and VERY POOR. I need my car to get to work and it's hard to get there when it doesn't start.
Since I am going to a conference this weekend in Connecticut I am forced to rent a car. Just what I wanted to do-spend more money! I am getting it fairly cheap since it is a weekend. I have a friend that lives close to the conference, so I am spending Friday night with her and escaping paying for a hotel. Whew! Thank you Alden!
I am looking forward to the conference. It is at Yale University and the topic is pain management through music therapy. What is extra cool is that the panel of presenters are doctors AND music therapists. Wow! We can work together! There is a really famous music therapist going to be there and I have read lots of her stuff. I'm pretty excited to meet her-yes, I'm a dork.
Anyway, that's what's going on with me.

While I am enjoying the conference my friend/Lars' mom will be taking her LMHC licensing exam. So........ GOOD LUCK LISA!

Finally...

The link here is a for a song that is pretty controversial. I stumbled upon it and have been sharing it with everyone I know. Why it is just now going up on my blog I'm not sure! Check it out. I think that it is really well done. If you are a huge Bush fan you might not like it much. Truth hurts. And if you are a Bush fan, what are you doing on my blog!(no, I don't discriminate against my readers)

Click to view:

Pink-Dear Mr. President

Go Sox!

It isn't possible to live in Boston and not be a Red Sox fan. Now that we are in the playoffs it's even more fun to watch. Tonight is our 2nd game against the Indians. Sorry Ohio, I don't want to risk getting evicted from my city. Go Sox!

More Fair

 

 

 

Here are the rest of the fair pictures.
1. Michelle as bunny
2. A super cute llama
3. Another view from the fairgrounds

Fair

 

 

 

 

About 2 weeks ago Ed and I headed up to Maine to go to a fair. We saw lots of animals and ate way too much yummy food.
1. This is the background behind the fair grounds.
2. What's with the spotted pig?
3. Ok, I am only in the picture to show the massiveness of this cow. I didn't know they came in this size!
4. How cute is this little lady! She thanked me for being a vegetarian.

The Great Pumpkin!

 

 

 

 

Last week Joa and I took on another baking adventure. This time it was to bake a pumpkin cake. Pumpkin appearance, but yellow cake. It turned out pretty well. The recipe is from kraft.com

Coming Soon!

This past weekend included a trip to Portland Maine to cheer on Lisa J. in her 1st 1/2 marathon! It was great! The rest of the day was Joa and me exploring the city. Pictures will be coming soon. One of the pictures will be of a 1700 lb. moose made entirely of chocolate. Now how could you not come back to see that?!

Happy Wednesday!

Abbott

Abbott, my cat since third grade will be put to rest tomorrow. He has lived quite a life since coming home with us from the humane society. I have so many great memories of him. My favorites would have to be the times that he could get on top of the kitchen cabinets and scare the crap out of the cleaning lady. He was pretty spunky. Unfortunately in his later years he developed diabetes that kept getting worse. It is now to the point that it isn't fair for us to keep him going. This is for the best, but still very hard. These are the last pictures I got of him. They aren't the best, but they are still him. He loved the shower. Anytime it was on he would sit in front of it and wait for you to get out. Then he would jump in and lick up all the water. He was one crazy dude.

wonderful words

I heard this song the other night and it really has stayed with me. Its words are powerful to me and renewed me in a way that I didn't realize I needed. Here's a portion of the lyrics:
"You can pour your soul out singing a song that you believe in that tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang. Sing it anyway."

Check it out on you tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jsk5G2Loz-k&mode=related&search=

Proud new owner

Yesterday was our Passages conference at Lesley. It went really well, but those of us planning it are sort of glad that it's done! At the end of the day there was a drawing for a video ipod nano and I won!!!! I was totally shocked and wicked excited! You can check it out at apple.com

Time to Vote

 

 

Just in case you have nothing better to do I am taking a vote. I am stuck in my decision to cut my hair or let it keep growing. What are your opinions? Short hair is from summer '06. The other picture is hair now. Wow, this might just be my saddest post yet. sorry folks.

more fun times

Not appearing in photos quite yet is my monday with Lars. After a good PT appt. we played his beautiful piano for around an hour and a half. Singing, laughter, music...what a sweet time together. I got fairly adventurous and decided that I was going to let Lars paint with pudding. He made two beautiful masterpieces. His current medium is jello brand chocolate and computer paper. Good thing it was bath night. Mommy came home to find him completely covered in choclate waiting for the tub to finish filling. I did manage to take some pictures with Mama's camera. When she passes them along I will be sure and put them up.
Thanks to Joa, Lars, and Lisa for my Uglyworm (pictured above). I love it!

Another trip to Davis Famland

This past Friday found Lars and me enjoying more time at Davis Farmland. It was really nice and there weren't many people there. This meant no waiting for the pony ride that Lars loves. However, he didn't seem to enjoy it like usual.
1.big smiles
2.goat attack!
3.Michelle thought it would be fun to put animal feed on me while I was lying in the grass. She was right! I laughed so hard as the baby goats walked over top of me to find it all.
4.Michelle's favorite creature at farmland
5.Finally, someone else that appreciates bumpy blanket as much as I do!