Great Deals

Today was grocery day! I got some great deals! Meijer had tubs of land o' lakes spreadable butter for 4/5.00. I used my .50 off of 1 tub coupons (which Meijer doubled) and got them for .25 each! Yay! Better yet, I went to Kroger and got the Pillsbury crescent roll deal. They had the very tiny crescent rolls for 1.00 on sale. I used my .35 off of 1 coupons on each...the doubled the first 2 coupons!....which meant I payed about 2.55 or so for 5. Then they had a deal where you get a 3.00 off your next order coupon if you buy 5 crescent rolls! So...of course, I went back later and used my 3.00 coupon to buy 5 more..which gave me 3.00 off next order again...which I used to buy some hamburger! I still haven't gotten the hang of the CVS game yet. I am trying, though. Even if you don't coupon, Kroger and Meijer had some great 10 for 10.00 deals this week. Meijer even lets you get the 11th 1.00 item for free. Well, we are stocked up on food for a while, thank God! A lady at the grocery store saw my coupon binder and stopped to ask me how I used my coupons. This is becoming a serious addiction. Hey, it benifits the whole family, though! The trick is to get multiples of the same coupon and wait for a really good sale on that product and then stock up. Well, it's been a long day, with 2 trips to Kroger, 1 to Meijer, a trip to the In-Laws (the best In-Laws in the world!) and making a yummy homemade pizza! I'm off to get ready for another day of homeschooling tomorrow...which we are loving, by the way! Later!

SPD and Listening Therapy

I wanted to take this chance to spread a little info about Sensory Processing Disorder. This is a neurological condition that shares some traits with Autism and ADHD. It is commonly misdiagnosed as ADHD. In SPD, the nervous system cannot process sensory info correctly, resulting in incorrect responses to sensory input. It does not affect people in the same way, nor does it affect an individual the same way at all times. For example, one sense that can be out of whack is the tactile sense, or sense of touch. Some people will actually feel a very light touch as extremely uncomfortable, and will react strongly against it. Others may not notice touch at all, so they will crave touch and constantly be in others space. Even worse, some will waffle between the two extremes. My son is a waffler! Other senses that can be affected are sight, sound, taste, smell, proprioceptive and vestibular. Not all senses have to be affected. My son is affected in all areas, but especially with sound, touch and vestibular. My daughter, who isn't diagnosed with SPD, but may have it as well, has problems with vestibular, sight and auditory. If your child has ever been diagnosed with ADHD or autism I would recommend doing some research into SPD. The treatment for SPD is Sensory Integration Therapy, along with a lot of other things that are worth a try (although they are considered alternative). Today our Occupational Therapist ordered my son's Listening Therapy program. This is a special cd player and headphones (with different cd's) that play frequencies that regular cd players and headphones won't even play. This somehow retrains the brain to "hear" correctly. I do not understand it completely, but I am happy to learn. When we first started therapy we tried something called Wilbarger brushing. It seemed like an odd thing to do as "therapy", but it has made a world of difference in my son's behavior, as well as his ability to communicate. Thank the Lord, my son's SPD is only considered moderate. However, this leaves him in the category of being misunderstood quite frequently. His SPD has caused him to have a fine motor delay (pretty severe), low muscle tone (endurance), dyspraxia (poor motor planning), eye convergence problems (even though his vision is 20/20), along with some minor struggles with social skills. When he was 4 I took him to our local school system to have him tested for SPD. Unfortunately, they didn't know enough about it to point us in the right direction. A couple of years later we went to our pediatrician, who was leaning toward ADHD, but recommended further testing (unfortunately, through the school system again). Finally, I took him to an independent OT who specialized in Sensory issues. She has helped him in so many ways. We go to OT once a week and I wish we would have been able to do this when he was younger. I think this is one of my new missions in life...to educate the world about SPD. Help spread the word!

A good day...

We had a great day homeschooling today! We covered a lot of ground. I think the kids are getting used to being around each other all day. We are only in our second week of homeschooling now. So far, so good.

I have decided to try out the binder method for storing my coupons. I am currently setting that up. We'll see how it turns out. My oldest daughter is so into couponing with me! Actually, she is cutting coupons right now! Sunday afternoon I stumbled upon the information about Kmart's super double coupon sale. Needless to say, I ran right out and stocked up on a few good deals. I got Rimmel fingernail polish for free and a few tubes of Crest toothpaste for free as well. This was my first venture into Kmarts double days. I couldn't believe they were doubling 2 dollar coupons! Wow! What a deal! I've still got a lot to learn.

As you might have noticed from my first post, I have a couple of kids with some medical issues. Thankfully, my oldest is fine, with the exception of some major allergies. My son was finally diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder (also known as Sensory Integration Dysfunction) this past fall. My youngest daughter has some developmental delays, and her OT is on the fence as to if she has SPD as well. She shows many of the signs of SPD, and a lot of her delays can be related to SPD. She is only 4 years old, so we are watching her closely. Thankfully, she has been receiving speech, developmental and occupational therapy since she was 2, so her issues are not as problematic as her brother's. I will eventually post more info and links about SPD on this blog. I just have to figure out how to work this blog!

Thanks for stopping by!

My very first blog post

I've been thinking about blogging for a while now, and it seems that tonight is the night that I finally get the courage to make an attempt! I just thought that this would be a good way to keep everything in perspective. Life can get in the way at times and cloud my view. I want to keep my focus on Jesus more and more. I have learned a little bit about "binocular" vision as 2 of my kids are having problems in this area. If you aren't using both of your eyes correctly to focus on something than you will lose your depth perception. Try covering one eye. Now ask someone to hold up a small container and hold an object above that container. Have them slowly move the object over the opening of the container until you tell them that it is directly over the opening. You will be amazed at how far "off" you will be in your attempt. This reminds me of how "off" my life becomes I am not correctly focused on God. My spiritual eyes need depth perception to be able to perceive the deep things of God. My kids have problems with double vision when they are writing. Likewise, when I am not focused on God, I see all of life's problems and woes to be "double" what they really are. They also have problems catching things that are thrown at them. I, too, have problems "catching" the things that life throws my way when my mind is not on Him. It's also hard to "catch" the teachings and blessings that God throws my way when I am not looking towards him. Another area of concern for my kids is that they sometimes struggle in making eye contact with someone who is up close. Oh, how this one resonates within my heart! When I have lost my focus on Christ it is so hard to "look Him in the eye" when I am in His prescence. As soon as I start to feel the guilt, though, He reminds me of His unconditional love for me. No, He will NEVER leave me nor forsake me. He has held me in the palm of His hand the whole time. Interestingly, the way to fix this vision deficit is to do vision exercises daily. Sounds a whole lot like my christian walk! I need to stay in His Word daily and sit in His presence to keep my eyes trained on Him. It reminds me of an old song...

O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see?
There's light for a look at the Savior, and life more abundant and free...

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth, will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.