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!
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.
I don’t read a ton of nonfiction, but I set myself a goal at the beginning of 2025 to read at least 12 nonfiction books over the course of the year.
My plan was to read one each month, and I kept pretty close to that plan. I doubled up one month and missed one month, so it evened out to 12 total for the year. Most of them were related to Christianity, but I did also read one memoir and one autism-related book. Here’s a breakdown by month:
January – Followers Under 40: The journey away from church for Millenials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha by Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge
February – The Color of Compromise: The Truth about the American Church’s Complicity in Racism by Jemar Tisby
March – Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark?: The Bible and Modern Science and the Trouble of Making It All Fit by Janet Kellogg Ray
April – The Great Sex Rescue: The Lies You’ve Been Taught and How to Recover What God Intended by Sheila Wray Gregoire, Rebecca Gregoire Lindenbach, and Joanna Sawatsky
May – Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope by Esau McCaulley
June #1 – God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vine
June #2 – How to Fight Racism: Courageous Christianity and the Journey Toward Racial Justice by Jemar Tisby
July – Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr
August – The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say about Human Origins by Peter Enns
September – Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood by Kate Swenson, Adrian Wood, and Carrie Cariello
October – I missed this month, but thankfully I read two in June so I was still on track to meet my goal for the year!
November – Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop: A Memoir by Alba Donati
December – Queer & Christian: Reclaiming the Bible, Our Faith, and Our Place at the Table by Brandan Robertson
Do you read a lot of nonfiction? Were there any standouts this year?
Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood by Kate Swenson, Adrian Wood, and Carrie Cariello
Summary
Kate Swenson, Adrian Wood and Carrie Cariello are from different parts of the country and backgrounds, but they were brought together by a singular experience: they are each a mother to a child with autism. Together they have shared laughter, tears, victories and the unconditional love that molds their lives.
Kate, Adrian and Carrie have children with very different autism profiles, and in Autism Out Loud they write about their unique experiences on a variety of topics, from diagnosis to caregiving, schooling and aging. Through their varied stories and lessons they’ve learned, these incredible women provide a glimpse of what to expect on the autism journey and show parents that they are not alone.
My Thoughts
I really appreciated how all three of the authors gave us such an intimate view of their lives. They were so willing to be vulnerable in sharing their experience as moms of autistic children. I could relate to a lot of their feelings in this book, and I am thankful I was able to read this book.
The part that I connected with the most was the anxiety about helping an autistic child transition to adulthood and planning for their future. This is a huge source of worry for me and I know I have not done enough yet. It helps to know I am not alone in my struggle.
The Bride Test by Helen Hoang is book two of The Kiss Quotient series.
This is a fun romance with a quirky twist and a few spicy scenes. The author is autistic and drew on her own experience while writing this series in which each book has an autistic main character. I had read the first and third books in the series but missed this one, so I wanted to fill in the gap.
I really enjoyed this story about Khai Diep, who believes that he has no feelings and is incapable of having a relationship. His mother takes the initiative to bring a woman from Vietnam to the United States to be his fiancee, giving her the summer to convince him to marry her. Their relationship has a lot of twists and turns and some miscommunications, some of which are due to the issues brought up by Khai’s autism.
I think this whole series has great autistic representation, along with an entertaining romance.
For the past several months, I have been part of a committee planning a luncheon for mothers of kids with autism. I was in charge of registration, which included communicating with the moms who had signed up for the luncheon as well as getting everything we needed to hand out at registration together.
It was a lot of work and was stressful at times, but it was so worth it! The event took place last Saturday, and we had over 70 moms in attendance. We also provided childcare for about 20 kids. In addition to the lunch itself, there was a program that was simulcast from the main location in Chambersburg to our location in Harrisburg and one additional location in Lebanon.
One of the neat things about the luncheon is that we find different people to design each table and decorate it with china and a centerpiece and small favors for the moms at that table. We also collect gift baskets and other items to raffle off to the moms. The event was hosted by a local church, New Love in Christ, who provided so much support! The pastor’s wife even created some amazing balloon art for the fellowship hall and the sanctuary.
One of the tablesSeveral of the other tablesRegistration AreaGift TableSanctuary Balloon ArtFellowship Hall Balloon Art
The speaker for the event was Kate Swenson, co-author with Carrie Cariello and Adrian Wood of Autism Out Loud: Life with a Child on the Spectrum, from Diagnosis to Young Adulthood (which we all got a copy of). She shared about her experiences raising an autistic child and focused a lot on the need to be part of a community instead of living in isolation. It was very encouraging, and I am happy to say that I did make a few new connections that day. I am so glad I decided to get involved with the planning of this incredible event.
Somehow I had read the third book in this series back in 2022, so I decided I should read the first two as well.
These books are sexy romances that feature autistic women at the center of the stories, and I really appreciate the representation of autism in fiction. It’s important to show that autism presents differently in women than in men and to provide an understanding of the challenges we face. Hoang does a good job of this, especially as she was going through her own journey of being diagnosed with autism at the time.
As for the plot, it was pretty standard fare for a sexy romance. The main character Stella wants to learn how to enjoy sex and decides to hire a professional to teach her, and that’s how we meet Michael, an escort with his own story to tell. From there, it’s basically a reverse Pretty Woman scenario.
In the end, my take is that it was a fun romance with some good insight into autistic women.
March has been one of my busiest months in a while, and I am ready for things to slow down.
One of the things that has been keeping me quite busy is being on the planning committee for the 10th Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon that is taking place this Saturday. I am in charge of registration, which also includes getting everything ready that we are going to hand out in the folders for each mom. I am glad to be working on that and not more people-intensive things like fundraising or recruiting volunteers, but it has still been stressful at times.
I haven’t been able to do much puzzling because of the luncheon planning. I completed two puzzles on my own and two puzzles with friends at the church brunch & craft event. Even with that, one of the puzzles I did on my own was only 99 pieces!
Here is how far I am on my current puzzle:
I did reach a milestone on my puzzle Instagram – I hit 1000 followers! I am quite pleased by that. I only have 150 followers on my Bookstagram, although probably half of those are people I know IRL and I usually average only 10 likes per post on there. I’m not really sure if it will grow much because most of the accounts I look at to consider following are into romance, romantasy, fantasy, or thrillers. On the other end are more literary accounts, which I prefer but don’t feel I can compare myself to. It is harder to find people similar to myself on there, whereas with puzzles it is quite easy to find common ground and even if their tastes are different from mine, I don’t usually mind too much.
I have also started posting my puzzles and book reviews on my Facebook feed. There are a few people who like them and since they aren’t on Instagram, I do it mainly for them. I get nervous posting books that relate to my faith journey because I have a number of conservative friends on there, but no one has said anything mean or argumentative so far. I don’t really want to spark debates; I just want to share what is going on with me and hope maybe it will make someone think a bit.
Michael is still job hunting, but he has had some success in his health journey. He has been climbing stairs during the winter while it has been too cold to go on walks and can really tell a difference in his stamina. He also weighed in at 199 lbs a few days ago when we saw the weight management doctor, which was very exciting! I am very happy for him to be taking care of himself so well. I wish I could say the same about myself.
Here is a screenshot of my puzzle Instagram when it hit 1000 followers:
Peanut Butter likes to hang out with me while I am working (my desk is in my bedroom). He has taken to jumping up on my desk lately, but often he gets comfortable on my bed. He will turn 12 next month and thankfully is in good health.
Lately I have been spending quite a bit of time helping to plan the 2025 Autism Mother to Mother Luncheon. I am coordinating the registration committee. Online registration for the event opened yesterday, and we have had almost 70 moms sign up already! We can accommodate 100, so we still have a few spots left. I am also working on all the handouts, such as the program, name tags, etc.
I am not super involved in fundraising since it is not one of my strengths, but I did get a gift basket donated by my hairstylist for the raffle we are holding at the event. Here’s a picture of it:
My friend Kim and I have been spending our weekly Saturday lunch and movie get togethers going through the Good Witch movies. We have finished all the ones that took place before the TV show started, so now I am watching the show on my own and we are watching the additional movies together where they fit in the timeline.
For Christmas, I had given Kim a t-shirt that mashes together the Bennet sisters from Pride & Prejudice with the Abbey Road album cover from the Beatles. She wore it yesterday so I was able to get a shot of it:
I have really been enjoying the women’s table group at church. We meet every other Wednesday evening and share a meal and discussion about the recent Sunday sermons. The idea popped into my head a few days ago to suggest that we open the group to non-binary people and, when I suggested it to the group, they all seemed to like the idea. Our leader is going to talk to the pastor who oversees the groups and let her decide the best way to communicate it. I am really happy that they liked the idea.
March is going to be a very busy month with the luncheon planning ramping up and lots of appointments for both me and Michael. Work has also been quite busy with lots of overtime needed to keep up. I’m hoping to be able to still carve out some time to relax and recharge by myself.
This is another catch-up post, but hopefully a bit more of a fun one. I’m not going to talk about work or health issues in this one.
In early November, Michael ran a short D&D campaign for me that he created based on Undertale and Delta Rune. It was actually a lot of fun, and I thought he did a great job writing it, drawing the maps, and running the campaign.
I tried a couple of new things in November as well. I had my first meeting on the planning committee for the 10th Annual Mother-to-Mother Luncheon. This year they are having it in three locations, one of which is Harrisburg. I volunteered to run the registration committee. I also attended a potluck and a support group meeting at a new organization called the Neurodiverse Network. I enjoyed the potluck, but the support group was a bit uncomfortable, especially when someone started saying how much they hate autism moms. I used to fit into that category and, although I have changed a lot of my views over time, I am still bouncing between being an autistic woman and the mother of an autistic adult. I haven’t interacted with them any further, and I doubt that I will.
In mid-November, our good friends Bill & Jenn came for a visit one evening. We had dinner and great conversation. Jenn even played puzzle chess with me and liked it enough that she wanted to play a second round!
For Thanksgiving, Michael was at his dad’s house, so I went to Renee’s for the day. Her boys were there as well as a couple of friends. Her boyfriend Chris cooked the meal, and it was fantastic. The brined turkey was so flavorful and my favorite sides were the sweet potato casserole with pecans and the sausage stuffing muffins. I took a 300-piece puzzle to do with whoever wanted to join in (Colorful Harvest, posted earlier this month).
On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Kim & I went to see the movie Wicked. I didn’t really know the story, although I had heard a couple of the songs from the musical before. I absolutely loved it! It was 2 hours 40 minutes, but felt much shorter than that. I can’t wait until part 2 comes out next year!
Here are a couple of pictures I wanted to share. One was taken in the front of my church while I was greeting last Sunday, and the other is a picture of my former dog Baxter with his new owner’s mother’s dog Hudson. I am so glad he is still doing well.
I finally decorated my apartment this week, after having the boxes sit in my living room for a week or so. I would like to get a bigger, fuller tree sometime, but this one will do for now.
This week has been a bit busier. On Tuesday, Suzanne came over. We ordered Panera and started a puzzle. On Wednesday, Renee took me to Gabriella Italian Restaurant for my birthday. We had a great time and some wonderful food. On Friday, Jessyca showed up at my place with a Christmas gift for me, a custom puzzle. I was so surprised and happy to see her again after several months of total silence from her. Today, Michael & I went to an open house at a center that our church is considering a move to. We would need to build a worship space to add to the existing building, but it does seem like a pretty good option for us. I’m looking forward to seeing if things work out for this.
I’ll sign off with a pic of my recent haircut. I’m not going to keep it this short, but I do kind of like how it looks.
In So Many Words 