I have been feeling pretty stressed this week. Between Michael and myself, we had several appointments so we both had to take time off work and run around for those. He also had a meltdown near the end of his work shift on Wednesday when something upsetting happened.
On another day, he might have been able to shake it off, but he was dealing with a cold and also feeling hot, which is a trigger for him by itself. I get so nervous for him when things like this happen because I worry not only about this job but about his future when I am not here to be a safety net. He does not have all the skills or resources to take care of himself.
Hopefully this week will be better for both of us.
I love this pic of Peanut Butter. I had folded a blanket and left it on the floor, and he partly wormed his way underneath the top layer. So cute!
This week was a pretty good one. I am starting to feel a little bit more like myself again. although some days I have been really tired from staying up too late the night before. Work is going well, and Michael seems to be doing okay at his job, which I am thankful for. I got a much-needed haircut on Friday evening, and I saw my friend Kim on Saturday after a few weeks of us being busy with other things.
I have been doing a lot of puzzling and TV watching lately and not as much reading. I did sit down and write a few book reviews, though, so I will be posting those soon.
My biggest struggle lately has been with impulse control. This affects me in a number of areas and I am looking forward to talking with my psychiatrist in a couple of weeks. I think I may need to adjust some of my meds to help me stay more centered.
This week was fairly busy for me. On Monday evening, the committee members from the autism mothers luncheon met at a restaurant for a debrief of the event and some socializing. We had a very nice time and shared some good ideas for next year.
On Tuesday, Michael had some dental work done. His dentist prescribed some medication to relax him, which he took the night before and the morning of. Everything went very well, which was a relief for both of us. He has to go back in a couple of weeks to get some work done on the other side, but he has the meds for that so I think it will be fine.
Michael’s case manager came over on Wednesday for a quick check-in. He is on the list for the state autism waiver, which would entitle him to some helpful services, but there is no way to say when he will be approved. It does by need rather than in order, so it can take a while.
Friday evening my friend Suzanne came over, and we ordered Chinese takeout and did a puzzle. This week, I had also seen a post on Facebook for a puzzle group that meets at a local library, and the next meeting was Saturday afternoon. I was a bit nervous because I have had trouble handling social events for the last few months, but I figured this would be pretty low key and not too loud.
I’m not going to go into the details of the afternoon right now because I am still processing my feelings about it. It was positive overall, but there were some awkward moments on my part that I was really embarrassed about later and even when I woke up this morning. I ended up spending some time reading posts on a Facebook group I am in for women with autism, and that made me feel better. Hearing what people similar to me are going through makes me feel less alone in my different-ness.
Today, I did some more puzzling and also some personal admin stuff that needed to get done. It has turned out to be a pretty good weekend, and I am looking forward to the upcoming week.
This picture is from the 2026 Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon held in Harrisburg, PA last weekend. The luncheon was started several years ago, and the main location is currently in Chambersburg, PA. The idea is to provide a special day for mothers and female caregivers of children with autism. It includes a catered lunch and a program with music and an inspirational speaker. This is the second year it has been livestreamed to other locations, and I have been part of the planning committee for the Harrisburg location both times.
My contribution to the event was to oversee registration. This involved keeping track of the online registrations as they come in as well as preparing the items we hand out at registration such as the name tags and programs. It was nice to be able to use my strengths to help out in this way.
The event went really well. We had 73 women in attendance and also provided childcare for 15 kids. There were a couple of hiccups that we can address for next time, but no major issues that I am aware of. I did have to personally step out of the after-lunch program because I was overstimulated after two days of in person preparations and then all the noise and bustle of the event. I hung out in the office for a while and did a few cleanup tasks before heading home. I didn’t have that level of difficulty last year, I was just exhausted, but I have been experiencing what many call autistic burnout for a few months, so that likely explains it.
I am hopeful that I will be able to do it again next year, but I will have to see how I feel when the time to start planning comes around. Perhaps there are changes I can make to how I participate so that I can still contribute.
Here are a couple of pics from the registration area:
This was a pretty busy week for me, but at least I did get to do some puzzling and a bit of reading.
The autism mother to mother luncheon that I am helping to plan is this coming Saturday, so this week is crunch time. I still need to finalize the program and get the files ready to print for the name tags and other things. I’m planning to spend some time on that today and am hoping to get it all ready to go. I took off this Thursday and Friday to go to the church to put things together so we are all ready for registration.
Healthcare rant incoming: My son had his first cleaning with his new dentist. Before we scheduled the appointment, we had a consultation to discuss what they could do in terms of sedation for doing fillings or other work like that and they said they could prescribe Valium for him to take before the appointment. At his cleaning, they did find some cavities, but the hygienist told me the dentist said he wanted to see how he would do without medication for this first time doing fillings. I pushed back and explained that he needed the medication and that was the whole reason we did a consultation before scheduling the cleaning, to make sure it would be available. After that, she went back to the dentist and he did prescribe the medication. It’s so frustrating that we had to have the conversation again!
This was a pretty good week. I felt fairly productive at work and Michael’s job seems to be going pretty well. One thing I have been avoiding is making a phone call to the place where I got my dental implants a few years ago to discuss the issues I am having now. My dentist feels like it would be a good idea to pursue whether they will do anything for me since the implants seem to have been placed too close together, but that seems like a terrifying phone call for me to make so I didn’t get it done last week.
I have still not been reading as much as usual, but I did finish one book last week. It was a short story collection called Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld. I have enjoyed several of her novels, but this book was a bit more difficult to read. The stories seemed designed to expose toxic beliefs and prejudices, and I have to admit some of them hit close to home. The two stories I liked the most were “Follow-Up” and “Lost But Not Forgotten.”
I hope all of you who are celebrating Easter have a wonderful day however you choose to spend it. I will be having a quiet day at home with Michael.
The Mother to Mother Autism Luncheon that I am helping to planning is coming up in just three weeks, so now it’s time for me to get working on the program and the items that will be included in the folders and bags we hand out. Thankfully, a lot of the heavy lifting is done by the team at the main site, and I just have to tweak things for our location.
I had some unfortunate dental news this week. On Tuesday, I noticed that one of my teeth was pretty loose. The orthodontist had said my teeth might be a bit wobbly as they moved, but this one was really moving. It turned out to be one of my implants (I have two implants right next to each other). My dentist looked at it and said she believed the implant had failed and that an oral surgeon should evaluate both of them. The oral surgeon said that it has definitely failed, and that the other one would fail as well, due to too much bone loss, which is most likely because the implants were placed too close together.
So now I have to organize getting the implant crowns off and then getting the implants removed and a bone graft done. I need a driver for the appointment, and I need to make sure Michael can get to and from work, and it’s going to cost $3600. I’m also stuck eating soft food for the foreseeable future so I don’t fracture it before it can get taken care of. Ugh!
On a positive note, I took Friday off work to watch the first day of the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association Nationals. Friday was the individual prelims, Saturday was the pairs and teams prelims, and Sunday is the finals for all three categories. I had purchased a 1500 piece puzzle to do while I was watching, and I ended up staying up until 3 AM on Saturday morning finishing it! I haven’t taken pictures of the puzzle yet, but here’s a picture of the box:
I did get all caught up on laundry on Friday as well, which was good, but I was definitely avoiding a bunch of admin stuff I really need to do. There are a few things on my list which I am anxious about, so it’s really hard to make myself tackle them.
This has been a pretty good week. Peanut Butter turned 13 on Monday. He is still pretty healthy, despite his age, which I am thankful for.
In health news, I had my three-month check-in with the orthodontist, and he was pleased at how much movement has happened with my teeth so far. He gave me trays 13-25, so I will see him again in another three months.
I got to spend time with two good friends this week. Renee came over Friday evening and we ate together and played a bit of puzzle chess and then watched a few episodes of Best Medicine. She is a fan of Doc Martin, so I wanted her to see the new American version of the show, and she liked it. Then Kim came over Saturday for lunch and a movie. We get together every other weekend and take turns hosting. We had a nice time.
I haven’t been reading as much lately as I usually do. I have only finished two books in March, both of which were mysteries. I was about 80% done with a third one and then it automatically returned to Libby and I had to put it on hold again! I am currently about 40% done with another one; this one is on my Kindle so I don’t have to worry about it going away, lol.
Michael seems to be doing pretty well at his job. He feels like he has a good handle on the daily tasks. He has had a few awkward interactions with people, but we talk through them and I try to give him suggestions on how to handle them in the future. I know I have my own share of social issues, but I do have the benefit of a few more years of experiences to draw on.
Another busy week in the books! I spent most of the week in the office training a new sales rep. It went really well, and I am feeling good about his future in the job. Now I am back to working from home for the foreseeable future, which is nice.
Michael had a good first week at his job. He was pretty stressed the first couple of days. Tuesday evening we emailed the hiring manager with some questions, and she got back to us the next morning with answers to all of them, so that made him feel better. He was finally able to start asking the person training him some questions about specific tasks as well, so that was good. For him, the biggest difficulty isn’t the job itself, it’s his communication struggles.
Michael also had a birthday this week, turning 24 on Tuesday! I took him out to dinner to celebrate, and he chose Longhorn Steakhouse. It was very good, and we had a nice time. He celebrated with his dad and stepmom on Friday night.
I took my car in for an inspection and oil change and was very happy it didn’t need any additional work. I also went out to dinner with the friend who helped me drop off my car at the mechanic. We had a good time catching up over dinner at Texas Roadhouse.
This has been a very tiring week. I was catching up from time spent training at work and feeling stressed about having to do more training next week. I have also been quite anxious about Michael starting his new job tomorrow.
I think he is ready for the job. We went shopping for jeans since they recommended wearing them and he didn’t have any that fit. He hasn’t worn jeans in a number of years due to sensory issues. If he finds them too uncomfortable, he will have to wear his black work pants and hope they don’t get too messed up doing janitorial work. He also has his state ID and social security card in his wallet as well as a drink and a snack to have if they get a break or, if no break, when his shift is finished.
I will be taking my lunch from 9:30-10:30 to take him to work, and his dad will be picking him up at 2:00 to bring him home. His dad is retired, so thankfully he is able to do this. The alternatives are that I do it and extend my work day by another hour or Michael uses Lyft (which would get expensive!)
On Saturday, the registration opened for the luncheon I am helping to plan for mothers of children with autism. Our location is a satellite, so we serve lunch and then simulcast the program from the main site. Last year, we allowed up to 100 moms, but this year we are cutting it to 50 unless our fundraising suddenly shoots up. Yesterday I sent out 50 confirmation emails as well as approved 16 children for childcare. Today I sent waitlist emails to the few additional people who have signed up.
One change that has been made for this year is to allow people to come for the after lunch simulcast program if they can’t commit for the whole day or if they are waitlisted for the lunch. So those people will have the option to still hear the speaker, etc, which is nice.
Last thing I will mention is that I am struggling switching to tray #11 for my Invisalign. I tried both last night and today and cannot get the top one on completely. There is one tooth that just isn’t in the right spot for that aligner, I guess. I am really hoping I can get it on tomorrow.
In So Many Words 