It's been hard, easy and sometimes (eek) normal year so far!

This year has been hard, in ways I never imagined.  I had to start working at the youngest's school because he needed his blood sugars to be tested as some of his tests came back different.  I think they did it to shut me up, but they are finding it wasn't as easy as they thought. Now we've been told they are closing his program down and he's having to move.  Those of you with autistic children, know how hard this is for all of us, but especially for him. He doesn't like change and it's starting to show up! Majorly!  He's having more meltdowns and it hasn't been pretty.  Came to the point today where I'm really thinking it's time to pull him from this school and being done with it.  I'm done with the stress it's causing both of us and because the school can't handle things like him being in a wheelchair for outings, he's being singled out and not able to go on trips. This is wrong and frankly, I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of having to fight and I'm tired of what it's doing to J. 

Another change is that Meg, my type 1 diabetic, was diagnosed with nerve damage in her feet and some in her hands. This has made it so she can't work and she needs to apply for help.  It wasn't easy to do, but we just received the new health card and we were very surprised to see that her insulin pump supplies were totally covered.  NO cost to us at all!!! This usually costs us $300 a month!! So nice not to have to pay that up front and hope that it's accepted from the insurance company in a timely manner!

Because of all this going on, I haven't been able to get into the craft room as much and it's hard to get back into the swing of things.  I've got all these ideas but am having a hard time getting up the energy etc to get down there and actually sew something up.  I know I need to get things done, I have a TO-DO list like no tomorrow.  I know I have to get started on the Christmas stuff soon or I may not get it done either.  If anyone sees my get up and go, can you tell it to get up and come back?? LOL 

Some good news that has come up is hubby's photography business is starting to get going. He's going to be doing a Little League thing here in August and hopefully will be getting some business from that as well.  He's such a great photographer, he deserves some good stuff to happen. He's helped me out so much when my Fibromyalgia is acting up and he works so hard so I can stay home with the kids.

Hopefully you are having a fantastic year and if you are having one that is a little harder, remember that tomorrow is another day and will get better. It can't always be bad!

Love and hugs
Stacy

Happy Halloween!!!

So today I had to make cupcakes for my youngest Halloween party. One of the children has diabetes, so I found one of the recipes I make for Meghan who is also diabetic.  They were a hit with most of the kids. One little girl didn't like chocolate?! But the little one with diabetes was happy that someone had thought of him for a change.

Anyways, here's the recipe. I took a pic of the ones that I have here at home, but I forgot to take pics of the ones I took to Joey's class. Duh!! The recipe was out of the Splenda cookbook by Marlene Koch. We use alot of recipes out of this cookbook.


Chocolate Cupcakes
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup Splenda Sugar blend for baking (I didn't have this, so I made it half sugar half Splenda)
2 Large eggs
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla

1- Preheat oven to 350. Place paper cups om muffin tins.
2- Put butter and Splenda in a medium bowl, use and electric mixer to cream until light and fluffy
3- Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
4- In a medium bowl, combine cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and baking powder. Whisk to combine
5- Add 1/2 the flour mix to the egg mix; then add 1/2 the buttermilk and the vanilla.  Mix at low speed and repeat, finishing with the last 1/2 cup of buttermilk
6- Spoon batter into cups, filling 2/3 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

cupcake in a mug  :)

I had some batter leftover and didn't want to put into a liner. So I grabbed a couple of mugs and divided the batter between the two.  Put them into the microwave for 1:30 minutes and there was some good cupcakes. I also had to have whip cream with them, which is in the bowl to the left in the pic.

I can't wait for school to be back in. Not because I don't enjoy the kids being home, but because I need time to sew! LOL I am trying to get things done in my sewing room, but things just aren't working out. It's not that Joey doesn't want to be down there with me, it's that he wants me to see what he's doing the whole time I'm trying to get some sewing done! ARGH! At least while he's in school, I can get sewing done. I have 6 hours to myself and I can get alot done....after I do the cleaning and such that I have to do as well. But the good thing is that I will get my stuff done that I need to get done to sell on Etsy! I'm so far behind, I think I'm ahead! lol

On the good side, I have done some sewing and Starbucks does like the Koffy Kozy!! YEAH!!! I just have to wait for the paperwork from them and get the promo done for JDRF. I'll be giving $1 from every Kozy to them. They do such good work for the Type 1 diabetics around the world. Can't wait to give back where I couldn't before.

Merry Christmas!! We had a quiet one here. We had tons of snow for Joey to check out and we loved having Ken home.

I am hoping to be able to update more often. I have been challenged to tell people how my family makes it by on one income. I am going to try.

Joey is supposed to start a new school on Jan 18, but we are not holding our breath. In the space of 2 days, he was supposed to go to 3 different schools, not counting the one that he is currently supposedly enrolled in. It seems that schools have problems with medically assisted children. humph! I will be writing letters and other stuff once I know for certain he's in the school. I'm not happy with the school he will be going to (finger's crossed) as if he has to go back into the wheelchair for anything, it's not exactly accessible, but it's the only one left. I hate our school system!!!!!!

In upcoming posts, I am hoping to show you how to be frugal with what you have. I don't know if I'll be able to show you everything we do as it's not easy to explain my weird way of thinking. LOL