<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/busdriver /charlie5.jpg" title="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v143/busdriver /charlie5.jpg" target="_blank"http://img.photobucket.com/al...">

The image linked above is a picture of my dog Charlie.  He's a Schipperke, we think.  He looks a lot like our other Schipperkes, except he's bigger.  Note the huge Flying Nun ears! 

We rescued Charlie.  He was in a shelter on the East Coast and someone rescued him just before he would have been put down.  However, the initial rescuer could not keep him.  My husband found out about Charlie from some online Schipperke friends, so we had our "free" dog sent to us on the next available flight. 

I've had Charlie for several years now and he has come to occupy a very special place in my heart.  He also has some annoying habits (if you're reading this out loud, be sure to whine when you say "annoying").  He chews things up and he has to bark at anything he thinks is threatening my life, such as anyone at the door or within, say, a half-block of the door. 

But you should hear him sing!  He has a special song that he sings upon the arrival of family members and close friends.  If Charlie sings for you when you arrive at our house, you'll know you have achieved a very special status. 

Charlie is my "nap dog."  He sleeps on my feet whenever I nap on the couch, which is a nearly daily event.  I just say, "Hey, Nap Dog!" and he knows where to go and what to do.  The only problem with this is that he sometimes wakes up and guards me with loud barking during my nap.  He is annnnoyyyyyying, but very loyal. 

I am so pleasantly surprised.  This week my local school district agreed to pay my autistic daughter's private school tuition.  This is a big load off my mind and shoulders.  They are even going to send her to school on a bus each day.  I've been spending about two hours a day transporting Betsy to and from school, so this will provide me with more time for other things. 

I am so glad that the district agreed to do this without my having to take legal action.  The school psychologist from our local middle school visited my daughter's private school and agreed that it was providing her with some excellent opportunities to learn social skills which they could not give her at the public school.  It's really great for me as a mom to have my intuition about what's best for my child be affirmed by a professional like that. 

I do see some great changes in Betsy's ability to handle problems.  Initially she did not participate in the school's meetings where all sorts of issues are discussed and decisions are made.  But now she's been at the school long enough to have an interest in the outcome of some of the decisions, so she's showing up for the meetings when they are relevant to her interests.  And she discusses a lot of issues with her dad and me after school.  She seems to want to talk out problems instead of just holding stuff inside and getting frustrated.  This is really good development! 

I started this blog last spring to share information about homeschooling my daughter, but as you can see, things have changed and now she is nicely settled at a good school that is meeting her needs.  I guess I will change the focus of my blog now.  I don't have any brilliant ideas about what to write about, so I guess I'll take a few pictures of things that happen in my life and write about those.  I'm off to a flea market today, so I'll take my camera along!

I've been spending some evening hours lately painting and sewing, refurbishing children's toys and furniture to sell in my antique mall space.  I've painted several old rocking horses, a couple of doll beds and doll chairs, etc.  It's so much fun!  I'm not particularly skillful, but I sure enjoy it.  If the stuff I'm painting sells, great!  If not, I will be looking for somewhere I can donate it so kids will enjoy these things this Christmas. 

I won't be needing to buy any more stuff for resale in my antique space for a long time!  I went down from two spaces to one, starting tomorrow, the first of November, and I had to bring a lot of good, salable stuff home.  So for now I'm concentrating on my crafts rather than on buying antiques for resale.  I will also increase my efforts to sell on eBay, since I have all this stuff sitting around, taking up space.  This is usually a very good time of the year to sell on eBay, as people start buying holiday gifts. 

Everything else, besides business, is going pretty well.  Our oldest child started college this fall and has made it onto the novice crew team!  Our middle child got his driver's license.  Our youngest is really loving her school and has more friends than she has ever had before. 

We are overly busy, with me working two jobs and selling antiques on the side, but for the time being we are handling it okay.  Sometimes, though, I'm on a really tight schedule, and I have absolutely no time for anything to go wrong!  Of course, that's about the same time something tends to mess up!  As they say, "If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans." 

It's been 10 days since I last blogged.  Where does the time go?  Mostly to work, I guess.  I am less busy with my editing work for the UW than I've been in months (the workflow has seasonal ups and downs)...but I've been really busy with the antique business. 

I've been making enough sales each month to cover my rent, but not enough to cover my expenses of buying inventory.  So I'm downsizing from two spaces that I rent in the antique mall to just one.  Last week I spent three days moving and rearranging, and I'm still not done!  It'll be a great presentation, though, when I'm finished.  I'll be gearing up for the holidays and will have a small Christmas tree with vintage ornaments, some handpainted rocking horses, and other fun stuff on display--all of it for sale, of course!

Yesterday I took a reading break at a local bookstore and looked at five books that all took different approaches to nutrition.  I learned that, regardless of the approach, I need to be eating more protein than I normally do.  I think the approach I liked the best was a book called "Body Fueling," which said that if we work on meeting our nutritional needs, our bodies will adjust towards a healthy balance of muscle and fat.  I've thought of myself as an overeater--I may still be that, but I have also clearly been an "underfueler." 

So I started this morning with a homemade egg and cheese breakfast wrap rather than the usual bowl of cereal, and I'll work on getting several servings of protein per day.  Uggh!  I don't like a lot of protein foods, so I'm going to have to check out protein powder for making smoothies, nutrition bars, that sort of thing. 

Last night we went down to the University and picked up my stepdaughter, who has been a freshman for just a few weeks.  We took her out to dinner.  It was really fun.  College is really agreeing with Sandy!  So far the classwork is not too hard, and she absolutely loves crew.  She has a good chance of making the team.  We are all getting stars in our eyes, wondering if she'll make the novice team, then varsity, then...Beijing for the Olympics in four years?!  One can hope! 

I got home in time to watch my favorite show, "Joan of Arcadia," and I painted a rocking horse while I was watching TV.  I have 5 or 6 old rocking horses that I'm refurbishing to sell in my antique space for the holidays.  I'm also doing some doll beds and other wooden toys that I've found at various thriftshops over the past few months.  It's slow-going, but very fun work. 

Today I am puttering around the house, working on my proofreading, indexing, horse-painting, housework, etc.  I love days that I can putter and don't have a bunch of appointments.  I am meeting my best friend for a late lunch, and I'm invited to a pajama party tonight, but right now I'm thinking I will skip the party.  I still have lingering symptoms from the bad cold that I got while in Minnesota for my Dad's funeral, so I think I'd rather stay home and sleep in my own bed rather than stay up too late with a bunch of gals and take the chance of getting sicker.  I'm working all afternoon at the antique store tomorrow, so I need to make sure I will have energy for that. 

I have a new quest.  I have asked the local public school district to pay for Betsy's private school tuition.  It will probably be a long drawn out process and it may have to go through several levels of decisionmaking before reaching a resolution that works....but I think it's the right thing to do.  Betsy just can't function in a regular classroom setting, and she is absolutely thriving at her new school.  I can't believe some of the good things that are happening for her there.  She fits in even though she is autistic.  She's making friends.  She's learning to solve problems and make decisions.  It's all great stuff.  I hope the school district will support this placement that is working so well. 

I haven't blogged for many weeks.  At first I was kind of feeling like I had nothing interesting to say, because my days were so much alike:  work, work, sleep, work, eat, work, work, play Scrabble, work, work.  So I stopped writing on a daily basis and only wrote once or twice a week.

Then my dad died on September 22nd.  He was 86 years old and had been sick with congestive heart failure for about five years.  His condition kept getting worse and he had frequent emergency hospitalizations and had gotten to the point where it was difficult to do anything at all, even just eating a meal or walking a few steps.  So it was a blessing that he no longer has to live in a body that had gotten so worn out.  But it's still a big loss for me and the rest of the family, even knowing that Dad is at peace now.

I flew to Minneapolis to be with my family for Dad's funeral and I stayed a couple of days afterwards and was able to help Mom with the thank you notes.  Then I came home to the Seattle area with a very bad cold, almost bronchitis-like, and couldn't get back into the swing of things for the first four or five days back.  This past week was better.  I could work again, and that helps to keep me feeling okay.  The days when I don't have to be on a busy work schedule are harder, because then I'm sometimes alone with just me and my feelings. 

I've been through enough hard times in my life to know that I will eventually feel less sorrowful.  The main thing I need to do for my own personal well-being, in the meantime, is to not engage in self-destructive behaviors such as overeating, shopping, or other things that one can do to not have to feel.  The best thing to do, I know, is just to hang out with these feelings while I have them...just be with them...and not try to do anything to "fix" them or to shield myself from them. 

Everything in this world, regardless of how painful, can be a form of renewal and growth.  After coming home, I rented "Supersize Me," and that along with my dad's death from heart disease has reinvigorated my own quest for better health through better eating habits.  Also, the sameness of my days, that felt so unworthy of blogging about before Dad's death, now seems much sweeter.  Right now I don't feel blase about any day that I spend above ground. 

Today may actually be the first fun one since Dad's death.  I am going to pick up some work at the UW, and on the way, I'm going to go check out a flea market that is held just once a month.  A fellow antique dealer told me that it's a great place to blow out merchandise that is just taking up space at the antique mall.  So I'm going to go experience it today as a shopper and consider whether to go there as a seller next month.  Later, Larry and I are going to a Hawaiian BBQ for lunch, and still later, my best friend Helen is coming over for a Joanathon.  (That is, we're going to watch a video of an episode of "Joan of Arcadia" that I missed while I was flying to Minneapolis, followed by an indepth debriefing...)

Betsy got a cold on Sunday, after just one week back at school.  Larry and I didn't feel so great today, either.  Fortunately I was working at home today and could rest as needed.  When I called Betsy's school, I found out that lots of kids are sick.  It seems so early for this! 

I took the dogs out for a walk today because Larry was feeling sick and tired when he got home from work.  I noticed that my old cat Stewie no longer follows along on the dog walks.  He only goes as far as the house next door which is on a corner, and he doesn't cross the street to follow us on the next block.  He is very old, about 18 now, I think. 

I have a garage full of wooden rocking horses, and even a rocking reindeer, that I'm refurbishing to sell in the antique mall for Christmas!  I also have some doll furniture and child's furniture.  Mostly I'm just going to sand them and paint them, but I will try to add some decorative details, too.   

I'm up to my rearend in alligators!  Har! 

Not literally...that would be painful, and I'm actually enjoying myself.  Today was the first day back at school--not for me, for my kid!  Joy, joy, joy!!! Maternal joy!!!  I worked all day, but with no worries.  I did my editing work at a coffee shop.  It was so pleasant.  I need to remember to bring earplugs next time, though.  It's funny...here I am going deaf, yet those baristas talk so loud they distract me from being able to concentrate on my work and my Grande Sumatra Drip.  (Normally I am a Tall Drip, but today was extra special!) 

My husband and I went out on a date tonight.  Boy, it sure was nice to get out and do something different.  We went to an Indian restaurant called Cinnamon's Grill and had some really good food.  I had chicken breast stuffed with spinach and served over a rice pilaf with a yummy tomato sauce.  Larry had a Mediterranean lamb dish. 

Afterwards we went to Barnes & Noble.  We both had gift certificates to spend.  I got a really cool book called "Spiffy Kitchen Collectibles."  I found out that some of the kitchen utensils I've bought at thriftstores are worth quite a bit!  Tomorrow I am going to take some of them out of my antique space and put them on eBay instead.  Now I have some good terminology to use in describing some of these utensils.  (Like who would've known that this one odd thing is an EggWedger, used to slice your hard boiled egg into six perfect pieces?) 

Betsy's school starts next Monday and she is sure looking forward to it.  She hasn't had much of my time or attention this summer, because I've been working several jobs in order to afford private school tuition.  She's spent most of the summer hanging out at home alone, doing artwork and playing games and chatting with cyberpals.  It's going to be really good for her to be with more humans.

I think the drive to and from school will be good for us, too.  That's a great time to listen to music or an audiobook, talk about the day's events, etc. 

My financial goal is to become a successful enough antique dealer by next summer that I won't have to work the hourly sales job anymore and can spend next summer at home.  It would be nice to get back to just having one part-time job, the one with the University that pays a better hourly rate.  We'll see how this goes.  So far, I am doing pretty well for a novice antique tycoon.  Having the sales position at the antique mall is a time consuming pursuit, but it is also teaching me a lot about what sells and how to price stuff, etc., which I can use in my own business as an antique dealer.  So for the time being, it's sort of like going to school and getting paid (a little!) for doing it. 

Is "tycoon" a verb?  I dunno, I'll have to check.  But Larry and I use it a lot.  Yesterday (Friday) I tycooned nearly all day.  In the morning, I priced a bunch of new old stuff for my antique space.  In the afternoon, I went and sold a bunch of furniture to another antique dealer and taught her how to use eBay.  In the evening, I was back at the antique shop, putting out my newly priced stuff.  In between tycooning activities, I took a nap and made a nice dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy (or "gwaby," as we often call it at my house). 

My second month of being an antique dealer was not quite as profitable as the first, but then I am still in the process of acquiring stuff to sell and I had a larger rent because I have two spaces instead of just one now.  I am getting better at this, though!  I am finding ways to get more for less by learning how to bid for "lots" on eBay and by figuring out which thriftshops have the best prices.  I find it also helps to get outside the metropolitan Seattle area, into the smaller towns, to do some buying.  When we went camping last week, I hit a couple of small town thriftshops and they were great!

A very funny thing happened this week.  A few days ago, my husband told me that sometimes when he isn't sure what to do, he thinks to himself, "What would Sue do?" and then makes his decision.  (Note:  The BusDriver's real name is Sue!)  Then today, my best friend told me she does the same thing!  She was planning some grocery shopping and thought of some ways to be frugal like I usually am.

The even funnier part was discussing this further with Larry.  He says the answer to "What would Sue do?" is usually either (a) Take a nap or (b) Go shopping at the nearest thriftshop.  Har-har!  He's right!!!!

The other day, I reminded my husband that he said we could afford either a laptop computer or hearing aids (for me) at the end of the summer.  It being nearly the end of August, I thought it was time to speak up.  I seem to be coping okay with my hearing loss (I'm getting a lot better at lip reading as time goes on), so I opted for the laptop.  I'm really glad I did!  I am having a lot of fun with it.

So far, I haven't gone anywhere with my laptop, but I've been using it in the kitchen while multitasking.  I made a big batch of chutney the other day while playing Literati and Psychobabble, my two favorite Web games.  Having a computer in the kitchen definitely increases my willingness to spend time cooking and cleaning up the kitchen afterwards!

When Betsy goes back to school in a couple of weeks, it's gonna be great to have a computer I can take with me.  I need to drive her to school and pick her up most days, and sometimes I'll want to be out and about most of the day.  I'll be spending more time on campus in the fall, and there should be wireless connectivity all over the place there.  Also, I'm going to put my antique inventory on the computer.  And, of course, I can run my eBay auctions from coffee houses, if I wish.  Larry is also going to hardwire me some cable in the garage so I can stay online while working on my antiques down there.  (Our wireless network is kinda weak in the garage.) 

So life is good.  I am so connected now.

What I love about camping is getting into the woods...or whatever other sort of environment we choose...and being more aware of nature and less aware of my everyday little problems than I usually am.

What I found out about camping at the Yurt Village at Kayak Point is that this is nearly impossible to do when you're camping practically on top of each other.  Big families arrived on Friday night for loud reunions. 

I guess Kayak Point was a time and a place for us...and I need to think about alternatives for getting the feeling of being really away.

It had also been a year or more since Betsy and I had camped together, and she is less easily entertained than she used to be.  She got bored a lot.  Personally, I never get bored because I have an active inner life, plus I am easily entertained.  All I need is a book to read or a natural scene to gaze upon, and maybe a cup of coffee. 

Here's a picture I drew of Betsy, camping with her Gameboy and Cheetos.

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It's been such a busy summer that Betsy and I have not gone camping at all, which is highly unusual.  Most summers in the past we've gotten out a lot.  But then, most summers I haven't had two jobs to work and a new business. 

We are finally going to get up to our favorite campground, Kayak Point, later this week.  We're going to spend two nights in a rented yurt.  If you're not familiar with yurts, they are way cool!  They're round tents permanently in place over a hardwood floor.  The ones at our county campground and at various state parks in Washington and Oregon also have electricity and futon furniture.  So it's like a little rental cabin, but cheaper than most cabins, like $40 a night.  We will bring our sleeping bags, food, a cookstove, and some activities.  It's supposed to be possibly rainy while we're there, so we'll bring some books and games. 

I can hardly wait!  I so need a break!

There was an article in the Seattle Times a few weeks ago about how people are bartering or simply giving away things free through some Websites or newsgroups.  One is called craigslist and the other is freecycle.  I tried them out this week.  You have to be fast to email and say you'd like something, but I did manage to arrange to pick up a wingback chair today and possibly some lamps and pillows that may go with it.  I don't know if they'll be in any sort of condition to use or to resell, but I figured as a novice antique dealer, I would give this a try.  As my boss at the antique store says, "Free is my favorite price." 

Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, a lot of people consider blackberries to be a weed or a pest.  I don't like getting blackberry vines in my own yard, because they are nearly impossible to get rid of.  They are totally invasive.  Just cutting the vines back doesn't help.  You have to dig up the roots completely, which takes more muscle power than I have.

Oh, but the fruit of these awful vines!  It's so delicious and versatile.  So I am happy when I find blackberry vines on other people's property.  We have fewer vacant lots and large yards in our neighborhood each year.  Our local Norwegian-American contracting company keeps taking down small houses with big yards and putting up three or four houses where one used to sit.  The big new houses have postage stamp yards and NO blackberries.  But there are still just a few pockets of wildness in the neighborhood where we can pick blackberries. 

Right now it's the peak of the season, so Betsy and I got enough berries for both muffins and a small batch of jam from just one small patch tonight.  Over the next week or so, I will use spare moments to gather more berries and put up more jam.  When it's hot and I'm sweating over the stove, I wonder if it's worthwhile.  But in December, when I take out a fresh container of jam and get to taste summer, I know it was worth it.

A friend of Larry's and mine was having an estate sale this weekend.  He had a lot of furniture from his mother and aunt.  He invited us to come over early on Saturday morning, before the sale was officially started.  I suggested to Larry that he drive the truck.  He laughed, but it turned out to be a good idea.  We bought several pieces of furniture for me to resell at the antique store, and several for our own home! 

We got a beautiful Chinese black lacquer cabinet for our foyer, and a nice brass Chinese lamp to go on top of it.  What a difference that makes in the entry to our home!  Before when you came in, we had a hodgepodge of furniture, coats hanging up on hooks, dog leashes, etc.  Our entryway used to say, "Welcome to the chaos of our lives," but now it says, "Welcome to a beautiful and peaceful place."  That's gotta be good feng shui!  It sure makes me feel calmer. 

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Larry and I planted a pear tree about 10 years ago, and it gets more productive every year.  It's an unusual tree--five different kinds of pears are supposed to grow on it, because it was grafted, and this makes it a self-pollinating tree so we don't need to have several of them.  As far as I can tell, there are actually three kinds of pears that are producing...red bartletts, yellow bartletts, and bosc.  I like to cook some of the pears gently with some spices for a delicious dessert, and I also like to make a gingery chutney. 

I watched an interesting movie on Lifetime Television For Women last night, called "Miracle Run," about a single mom raising twin boys who have autism.  It was based on a true story, and it was very good.  The boys started out with no verbal skills, and both went on to passionately pursue their interests, one as a musician and the other as an athlete.  I would guess any parent would be happy to see their kids succeed like this--to find an interest that they really love and be able to participate successfully in it.  But this is a particularly moving story because these kids were not expected by the schools to ever be able to do normal activities. 

I think the key is to help your child pursue whatever it is that they're really interested in.  There are lots of so-called "normal" activities that I would like my daughter Betsy, who has Asperger Syndrome, to participate in.  For example, her dad and I would really like her to learn to ride her bicycle.  But it doesn't interest her.  She doesn't want to put time and effort into this pursuit.  She'd rather draw Manga pictures and interact with her Internet friends.  Once in a while, she's interested in getting out of the house to do something else...last night she and Larry went out for ice cream.  But mostly her interests center on art and computers, and she'd rather explore these things herself than participate in classes.  I keep hoping that if I encourage these things that she loves to do, she will find her niche.  She's only 12, so there is no big hurry. 

Larry got good news yesterday.  He had a little mole removed from his head last week, and he finally got the news that it's totally benign.  We are relieved.

One other tidbit, a funny one...yesterday I was showing Betsy something I'd purchased for resale at the antique store that was marked on the bottom, "Made in Occupied Japan."  Betsy said, "Japan is pretty crowded; is there any part that isn't occupied?"  I can't wait to share this with my antique dealer friends. 

Lately Larry and I have been too darned busy to get out and have much fun.  Fortunately, we are easily amused.  Today we laughed a lot over renaming our dogs.  We're thinking, "Tabouleh," "Falafel," and "Baba Ganoush." 

Since starting my second job a few months ago, I am spending less time at home, and our dogs are having more accidents.  Sometimes they even have accidents while we're home.  I guess once a dog gets the idea he can pee in the family room, it doesn't matter whether the people are home or not.  Anyway, we are having to crate up the dogs more now.  I am even going to crate them at night for a while.  They have gotten altogether too out of line lately.  We love them, but it's no fun for anyone to have to clean up messes that are avoidable if we keep them in their box occasionally. 

I wish I'd known about crate training when I had dogs in the past.  Dogs like dens, because it's part of their nature.  So there's nothing cruel about occasionally putting a dog in its kennel.  In fact, from stories I've heard, it can save their lives...dogs that are left to roam the house when nobody is home can get into some pretty bad trouble, such as eating something poisonous or chewing through an electrical cord and starting a fire. 

My husband's dog, Jack, has actually dug himself a den outside, under a big fern.  I imagine he stays nice and cool there on hot days, lying on the shady dirt.  Jack loves being outside in just about any weather.  He takes his job as perimeter guard very seriously.