I pulled this request from one of my autism parenting support groups a few days ago. I'm just getting around to sharing it here, it's been on Facebook for a couple of days. Here's the actual topic request: This mom basically asked me to explain why even the simple things in life aren't so simple when you're an autism parent. I totally get this and I hope I helped.. ☺
I've had better days and I'm not feeling exceptionally motivated but I have a living room that's not going to paint itself. I'm almost done with the all the trim. I have to cut in along the floor and then the rest will be super easy. It's just very tedious and I'm not really in the mood for tedious today. My original goal was to have all of this done before the boys get home but that's not likely to happen. I'm going to choose to be okay with that because there's not much I can do about it, and beating myself up isn't going to help. The current plan is to make a list of everything I need to finish up today and get after it. Lists are really…
I'm getting a little frustrated and overwhelmed with everything I have to do in the living room still. I've been at it pretty much nonstop for the past three days and I'm tired. I was able to get half of everything second coated before I started getting sloppy. I've decided to take a break, order some lunch (cause I'm also a little hangry) and work on something else for right now. I need to clear my head so I can get back at it ASAP. I owe it to the kids to disrupt their lives as little as possible, and right now, the entire first floor is unusable. Thankfully, the kids are at their moms until tomorrow, so I have some time. As far as my break is concerned, I'm…
Just a quick update cause some of you were asking about how the living room was going. I feel like I've been fairly productive. Yesterday I wasn't able to get started until mid-afternoon because I've had several new projects come in over the last few days and I'm trying to balance my time. I managed to get a first coat of paint on the windows, front door, and entrance way before running out of daylight. The plan is to get a second coat on the everything and then start on the baseboards. I have to get this done soon because the kids are not enjoying the house being torn apart. My goal is to get to the walls tomorrow, if not today. Wish me luck. I'm feeling motivated and ready…
I don't often pat myself on the back but I'm gonna do that tonight because I'm really proud of myself. I've spent the last two days working on the living room and I've made a good bit of progress. Yesterday I repainted the ceiling, which took some time. Cutting the ceiling in felt like it took forever but I worked straight though until it was done. I used a fourteen inch roller and two costed the ceiling and it looks amazing. By the time I finished with everything, I had lost the natural light and couldn't go any further. This morning I began prepping all the trim (base-boards, door casing, windows, window casing, and front door). It took forever but it turned out great. I recaulked almost everything, which is…
Today was such a good day for me. I made so much progress in the living room. I was able to get everything patched up and prepped for Wednesday when we paint the ceiling. I stayed on task and got everything done. The living room will be ready to start receiving fresh cost of paint this Wednesday. It's amazing how small changes in the way I approach things can have such a positive impact. I have to use things like lists, reminders, post-it notes, broken down tasks, self-imposed deadlines, and the like in order to keep myself on track. I have mixed feelings about it but truthfully, it's a small price to pay for adult functionality. I'm so grateful to have figured this out because if today is an indication…
I wanted to take a second and say thank you to everyone in my life who is supporting me as I explore an adult ADHD diagnosis. I've spent so long exhausted, beating myself up, and being stuck because I didn't recognize what the problem was. The more research I do, the more I realize that what I thought was depression was at least partly ADHD. I've been on this journey silently for a couple of months now and have only recently began to explore it. I've written about my suspicions vaguely but I had a lengthy, detailed conversation about it with those closest to me over the last couple of days. I've been reading everything I can find on adult ADHD and talking to some of my closest friends who…
A mom from one of my autism parenting support groups asked why her autistic son has meltdowns after school. This was a really good question and I wanted to share my answer here. If you're following me on IG, you may have already seen this. There could be a million reasons but I wanted to share some insight into why this may be happening. I think we, as parents, can underestimate how challenging it can be for our kids just to make it through the school day. School is not sensory friendly and there's a great deal of expectation during the school day. Simply put, school can be incredibly overwhelming for our kiddos on the spectrum and the fact they hold it together as well as they do is quite…