Life with a child with autism

April is autism awareness month. I will tell you what it is like having a child with autism.

Every morning we wake up and eat the same thing for breakfast. Even if he is sick or not hungry, the food has to be put onto the table with chairs up to it and all proper looking. Unwanted food is dumped on the floor, thrown across the room, left in another room, or when he is being nice abandoned. Abandoned food does not mean he is finished eating though. Food removed when abandoned, but he was hungry will lead to tantrums, attacks, and food getting dumped.

His days are spent emptying kitchen cupboards, emptying bookshelves, emptying bags of chips or flour or any food that is left out to be danced in and on. My days are spent eternally cleaning. I clean up the broken glass of the nice teapot then go clean up the dirt that came from the house plant that is no longer with us. I re-fold laundry, re-wash everything.

When he is sick I get a break. He will only want to lay around, snuggle, and watch movies. At those times, the only messes are bodily fluids. Then his sister gets sick. By the time I get sick he is better. So the house is trashed worse than usual.

Having a child with autism is a great form of birth control. I don't know if I can imagine having an infant around my child. I can't imagine the infant staying safe around him. He does not do well with most baby pets. He has the curiosity of a 15 month old that is newly walking, but the physical reach and power to move chairs and climb cabinets.

Many of my friends have large families (5+ children). Most of them do not have special needs children. The ones that do have special needs have some physical medical conditions. They might require expensive medical surgeries, but there is no question that the child will be able to be a normal part of society. They will someday move out. They will be able to hold down a job. They won't be looked at and pitied.

The larger families I know with children with special needs have less severe disabilities. When their child no longer qualifies for government paid services and they get angry because their child has progressed so much in the last 6-8 months when they had service. No longer giving this to their child is not 'fair.' But what is fair?

I just wish my child would call me mom. I wish he would call anyone mom. I wish requests from him were in sign language, picture cards or on an electronic device. Instead my requests are getting a cup shoved into my face (that means he wants a drink). If I am ignoring him and working on school, requests will be in the form of him grabbing my head and butting my face with his forehead. That sounds cute, but its painful. I end up with black eyes, scratches, bruises, and more from him. I usually end up taking tylenol or ibuprofen at least once a week for a headache that was from trauma. I have scars on my arms from where he pinches when he is upset or in pain.

We purchase extended warranties for everything we buy. We usually have to use them as well. Most people purchase a $500 laptop and expect it to last a few years until they want to upgrade. We expect it to be broken at least 4 times a year. Keys will be ripped off, water/milk/whatever will be spit onto it. Our laptop before this one we sent in for repairs probably 6 times in the first year. Most of the things breaking were not the manufacturer's faulty device. It was accidental damage.

We get kicked out of the movie theater at the matinee showing on a weekday because he has thrown a shoe and we cannot find it. We can't go to sit down restaurants because it takes too long for food to show up. And its noisy. The lighting is different. The food is different. He will soon outgrow the high chairs that we use the 2-3 times a year we try to go to a restaurant when we visit family of they are in town.

There is more, but that is just a small idea of what things are like in my house. Its exhausting. Painting my nails is a way I take care of me. It is a way I can still be feminine unlike the scratches, bumps, and bruises. It forces me to sit down and do nothing for 10-20 minutes while my nails dry. It is rather inexpensive, and the supplies don't take up much space. It is a good fit for me and my life.

Zoya GeiGei compared to Sinful Colors Glass Pink

It has been spring for a month now and I am still sending my children to school in coats. Yes full on coats. I even put the mittens back on them too. Its cold here. Not like January, but hello is April. I remember as a child that the last week or so of April was always the worst at school. The official date the AC would turn on was May 1st. Well guess what, they won't be needing the AC any time soon.

Light. Shiny. Perfect spring color. Or the pink to brighten the winter blues. Its the color of the palest flowers welcoming warmer weather. I love pinks! (Sorry the bottle shots are out of focus, I will try again before this actually posts to get clearer photos. Its been cloudy and gloomy lately.)

Imagine my surprise when I pulled out Gie Gie from the last Zoya sale (that I participated in) in January. If you hang out at the $2 polish racks at drugstores, you might think this color looks familiar. It IS! Its very close to the color Glass Pink by Sinful colors. Glass pink is a bit lighter, and GeiGei is more color intense. But formula wise, Glass Pink was blown out of the water.

 One coat looks pretty similar. Sheer. Pink with a silvery shimmer. Left to right: Zoya, Sinful Colors, Zoya, Sinful colors.

Second coat is where the truth comes out. GieGie actually looks pink. Glass Pink is still sheer.

Now for the review:

Sinful Colors Glass Pink.
Pros: Easy to find. Cheap! This costs $2 retail, but Walgreens often has sales so you can find this for $1.
Cons: Sheer. If you like this, buy it. I was disappointed by the sheerness of the color is why I haven't been wearing it. By the time I get to 4 coats and opacity, I bump my nails. Then I have to start again. Nightmare. But for days I feel like a sheer sparkly pink, this is great.

Zoya Gie Gie.
Pros: Easy to use formula. Opaque in 2 coats.
Cons: Cost. This is $8 retail and though its starting to show up in more places to purchase retail, its still harder to find in stores on a whim. That means you need to plan your purchase, and if you are cheap like me find a sale.

This is so not related, but I LOVE the name of this polish. The name reminds me of the (male) cat from Kiki's Delivery Service. If you haven't seen this Hayao Miyazaki film, rent it or borrow it from your library. Its super fun. Its about a girl named Kiki. She is a witch and she has to venture out on her own at 13 for a year as part of her witches training. Gigi her talking black cat comes along and participates in her adventures.

Zoya Emme

Finals week part 2: More Pink! Ok technically this is posting in the week between classes, but I wrote this at the end of finals week. Scheduled posts are awesome!

This week I made my first bulk nail polish purchase since August from Tonynail.com. Its almost all discount 'clearance' brands and colors that no one will probably recognize. I am pretty excited though. I think I have worn everything IN my nail polish bin. "New Toys!" said just like in Toy Story 3. I got a few of the bigger brand names (OPI and China Glaze) as well as some top and base coats, so I am excited for this package!

Zoya Emme is a pearly pink from the Ooh-La-La collection Summer 2009.

This polsih sucked. Yeah I said it. The color is pretty. I don't even necessarily mind brush strokes since I am a fan of metallic and frost finishes. But bubbles on the nail and problems drying are a different matter. I waited 30 min and it was still soft. It didn't even feel like it was going on that thick. Thicker than many of my Zoyas, but no thicker than other colors. So I left my fingerprint. I checked all the other fingers an hour after I took photos. They all got fingerprints. Awesome right? Not so much.

Most of the finger prints leveled as it finally dried, but who has time to wait an hour for polish to dry? Maybe some people do, but I do not.

If you are a sucker for pearl pinks, add thinner and pray it works.
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This is where I was planning on ending the post. But, while writing up this post, I decided to try it out myself. I added Beauty Secrets Nail Polish Thinner from Sally's. Usually I add about 4 drops. This time I gave it a good squeeze. Not a ton, but probably 2-3 times my typical 'dose.' It worked. Awesome right? Sure its great that it dries easier. Its great that it was far less streaky when I applied it. Its great that there were no more bubbles. Unfortunately, I had to add thinner to make the polish usable. And this was literally my first time opening the bottle. So, buy this color with caution, or at least a bottle of thinner on hand.

P.S. Keep an eye out on Zoya's facebook page. They have traditionally had an Earth day promo involving discounted polishes and a special so you can send in your bad for the environment polish for them to recycle. Earth day is April 22nd.

Zoya Jules with Zoya Blaze

ALIIIIIVEEE!

Its finals week! Plus, I get a week off between finals for Winter term and the Spring term. So I am blogging. Hurrah! I am going to try and spend my 15 hours not studying to line up a few weekly blog posts by at least doing photos. I hope to get enough posts in the next two weeks to publish once a week until the end of Spring term (in July). That is the goal at least. I will reevaluate time when my husband graduates from the local community college in May.

Today's nails are two toned. Zoya Jules is a grayed champagne metallic. It was from the Spring 2011 Intimate collection. Zoya Blaze was part of the holiday 2012 Ornate collection. It is a mulberry red with micro holo glitter. Sorry I didn't get a good photo of the holo.

I have been busy in the garden. Its finally warm enough for the green weeds to show up. I took photos outside because I could. Look at that green!

Jules was like most metallics from Zoya. Sort of runny. So watch out for cuticle flooding. I ended up with 3 coats. The lighting and contrast with the red make this look more like it might be a manicure hand color for me. It is not. It looks like it would match some pearl finish beige pumps I had almost 20 years ago. So I guess that is why people call it 'vintage' or 'old lady.' Not the most flattering neutral for me, but it is a nice finish that goes well with lighter spring neutral wardrobe options.

Blaze was a different type of formula. It left no brush marks and the finish was more like a jelly. Shiny! I did two coats and I could see a bit of visible nail line. in the right light.

Overall Imrepssions:
Love them both! But, I think I won't wear them together again. The gold shimmer in the Jules seemed to compete with the silvery holo glitter in Blaze and distracted from both at least in certain lights. In the bottle, Jules was far more gray looking than on the nail. Now if I was staying indoors the whole time, it works pretty well together. But bright light and outdoor light pulls out the gold.