Lizzie's Weekend Link Love

Another exhausting week, another much-needed weekend. Enjoy this selection of webby-awesomeness!

Laundry Organization (Linhart Live) - I am LOVING Jeana's final solution, especially because I have a small laundry room with very little leftover floor space for baskets. I might just be able to squeeze in a set up like this one though!

Kids Chores and Allowances (Moneywise Moms) - Jenny's guest post on Gina's blog is exactly what I was looking for! I love this - look how neat and tidy (and flexible) it is!

Ribbon Organization and Storage (Lu Bird Baby) - What a fantastic idea. I buy a lot of ribbon by the metre (instead of full spools) and I've been looking for a great way to organise them - this fits the bill nicely.

Changing Mat and Diaper/Wipes Holder (Lu Bird Baby) - Kristin's quick and easy throw-in-your-purse solution looks wonderful :)

Living Simply Saturday: Escaping The Technology Trap (Keeper of the Home) - Stephanie shares a thought-provoking view on modern conveniences. I agree with most of what she says, except I have to admit to a deep love for Twitter and my laptop, LOL.

Bookcases To Bay Window Seat (Ikea Hacker) - Doesn't this look awesome!

Utility Apron (A Thousand Words) - This is twenty different kinds of cute! Moo has many outgrown embroidered jeans languishing in my closet at the moment, and she'd die for this apron in her size :)

All American Tutu (Joy's Hope) - Or All Australian, since we're red, white and blue too! A great way to recycle jeans parts after you've cut the legs up for a quilt.

Happy reading all! See you Monday.

I'm Not Doing It

I would just like to inform everyone that I will not be blogging about Michael Jackson today.

Thankyou. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled blogging.

Oh Good Grief, I Did It

I bought a skirt.

Wide hips, big bum, short legs, cankles and all.

That's it in the above picture. Fully lined and bought on sale for $40 ($50 off!). Note absence of any of the aforementioned body flaws. As much as I'd love for that to be me, alas. It's the model from the website.

This all stemmed from a sudden and violent urge last night to devour this entire site. Ah, Trinny and Susannah. I love your frankness but if I saw you in the street I'd run the other way. You'd have an absolute field day with me!

Apparently, my stumpy little legs need not hide in jeans, but the skirt length must be exactly right. Being so short, alot of the 'below knee' styles actually end smack the middle of the wasteland that is my calf region, making me appear as if I've had an extra foot chopped off my height. And trust me, I don't have that many feet to spare. Mid-calf styles are usually just a smidge too short on me to be mistaken for the popular floor-skimming 'flower child' length too. Couple all that with an ever-widening rear (hey, just keepin' it real folks!) and I have not owned a skirt in six years.

Trinny and Susannah say I can get around the whole short legs/thick ankles debacle by investing in a really great pair of knee-length boots to wear with the skirt I purchased today. And since that solution involves shoe shopping, I will comply, LOL. I tried on a few pair today but they were all either out of my price range or covered in buckles, studs and ruching. I mean seriously - I am not a cowgirl, a punk rocker or a gladiator. Is it really too much to ask for an affordable knee-length plain boot with a chunky heel and room to slide over my enormous ankles?

I'm also after some other wardrobe basics, namely classic white shirts. I hit the city stores tomorrow (after donating platelets at the blood bank) so I'm making a list.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I'm pretty much building my wardrobe from scratch here.

I need all the help I can get.

Lizzie's Link Love ~ Super Mega Edition

You should see my designated 'link love' folder in my Favourites. I haven't done one of these in a while so it's chock-a-block full. A-cleanin' we go!

Autism Speaks (Skip To My Lou) - Welcome to the club hon. Here's a big ol' Aussie cyberhug.

Get Your Chore On (The Creative Mama) - Love the photo idea!

Start Your Day By Eating A Frog (Simple Mom) - I can't remember if I've posted this link before (probably!), but it bears repeating. One of my very favourite sites and this idea in particular has revolutionised how I approach my day-to-day tasks.

If My Grandma Could Do It (Pursuing Titus 2) - I didn't have much grandparental influence growing up (three grandparents passing away before I turned 4) and my own mother has now passed eliminating this connection for my daughter, so my mother-in-law has this revered spot now.

The Rich Family In Church (Mikey's Funnies) - What a sweet story.

Spring Chick's To Die For Craft Room (Ikea Hacker) - WANT.

Toy Organization (Katherine Marie Photography) - Oh my. Oh MY. Please come and live with me and I will give you chocolate and cookies.

Vegetable Gardening For Beginners: The 3 x 3 Method (Down To Earth) - Another excellent (and very timely) post from Rhonda Jean. How did she know my veggie planting list for spring currently has 22 items on it - most of which I've never grown before? (Talented Hubby will be pleased someone knocked some sense into me, LOL).

The Sugar Pill And The Real Thing (Conversion Diary) - If only I was this eloquent and concise in real life. Beautifully put.

A Thing Of Beauty And Order (A Thousand Words) - This is so beautiful I want to cry.

Feeding The Family: Getting It All Done (Heavenly Homemakers) - Laura gives some excellent tips here. Now if only I could follow them!

Roll Up Kitchen Playmat Tutorial (Balancing Everything) - An older post, discovered in the archives. What a wonderful, simple and creative idea for a small child's gift! I only wish I had nieces or nephews young enough to still be interested in this kind of pretend play. Right now, I'm too busy trying to teach my kids how to work the real stuff :P

Closets Guru (entire site) - just because.

100 Best Recipe Sites For Cooks Of All Kinds (Organicasm) - Are your favourite resources on the list?

June Cleaver, President Of The Mature B**bies Club (June Cleaver After A Six-Pack) - AGREED! Another oldie but hilarious!

Keeping The Kids Busy This Summer (Make and Takes) - It may be winter down here, but who doesn't need one of these? (Aussies: remember the Useful Box on Play School?)

And finally, to finish up (and because I count it as one of the funniest Friends moments ever), here's this little gem:



I'm probably going to move Link Love to a weekend timeslot from now on - probably on a Saturday - and do it a little more regularly. Weekends are crazy busy around here and this will allow me to spend more time doing family things as I can pre-schedule the posts.

Happy readin'!

A Cliff - And We Just Jumped Without A Parachute

This morning we told Jay that he is autistic.

For a few months now, we've known we were inching toward ripping off the proverbial bandaid. Jay is ten-and-a-half now, on the brink of adolescence, and things are changing. As D-Day approached, we'd often wonder whether he understood why he's in a special ed class, why he sometimes can't control the way his hands automatically move to rhythmically shake when he is excited, or a million other confusing things.

Boof and Moo are starting to pick up on the differences too. It was always our intention to treat each of the children exactly alike in terms of expectations, rules and rewards, so while the kids were quite young, the autism was a non-issue. We just kind of got on with life. The younger two have never known anything different in Jay. We were already pregnant with Moo (and Boof was just a toddler) when Jay had his first autism assessment in October 2001 (at age nearly-3) and she was just a few months old when he was eventually diagnosed in April 2002 (3 ½ yrs). Both Boof and Moo have adapted beautifully - but then, they've never had the alternative.

Jay was ready - WE were ready. We got books in preparation for The Big Announcement. We spoke to his teachers (they do not actively discuss individual students' disabilities with them unless the parents are okay with it - though of course most of the more astute kids have worked out, or were told, that their classroom arrangement and teacher-student ratio of 1:6 is a little out of the ordinary). We took him out for a fun day today. McDonalds. Arcade games. Mini golf (he won, Daddy lost, much to Jay's amusement!) When we finished off the day with our little discussion, we kept things light. We didn't gloss over anything, but we knew that in the new leg of this autism journey we've been on, specifics are less important. There will be plenty of time for questions later.

I'm continually surprised at my children's abilities to hear, digest and move on after days like today. When my mother died three years ago (and the kids were still young), it was the first time any of them had experienced death up close. They watched me, took their cues, and reacted instinctively. We often talk about Nana. It was the same today. Jay didn't say much, but he took everything we told him on board, and asked a couple of questions. When we returned home, I gave him a simple storybook about a autistic girl who describes how she feels and understands the world around her. He sat and read it through. A couple of times, he expressed surprise at the similarities between the girl's story and his own. And then when he was done, he calmly demanded a snack and Deal or No Deal. Fair enough little man. Fair enough :)

Though technically high-functioning autistic and intellectually on par with his peers, socially life will always be difficult. He's no autistic savant a la Rainman. But he loves game shows. Adores them. He will likely hold them in their same high standing right the way through his life, far beyond most adults' threshold for tolerating them. When he is twenty, and describing in great detail who won what amount of money on Millionaire with the same enthusiasm a four year old might show over a batman dress-up outfit, life is going to be interesting.

But...

It is enough. Just to have the wound laid bare. Enough.

Google Reader Overflowing? Have I Got The Solution For You!

A quick way to cut your Google Reader subscription list down:

1. Take a sheet of paper and a pen.
   
   
2. List as many of your favourite blogs as you can (odds are, only the very favourites will spring to mind).
   
   
3. Delete everything that didn't make the cut!

I defy you to list more than 30 before you draw a blank. For me, that's a cull of - oh, I don't know - ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE.

Whatever would I do with all that free time?! LOL.