A Year in Review...

Wow…can’t believe I didn’t blog once in December!!  Lots of little things went on that I posted about on Facebook but didn’t get around to sitting down long enough to blog.

So to wrap up 2016, I thought I would treat you to a “Year in Review” post with some of the highlights and ummmmm not-so-high-lights of our year.  

Let’s see…where to begin… 

We had a few more “Firsts” in Riley World!  He participated in his first, multi-day Special Olympics Basketball tournament; ate a grilled cheese sandwich WITH THE CRUSTS ON and attended his first concert to see J1 perform in Las Vegas. Go Ri!!!  On a, less happy note, I restarted Operation IFO with the introduction of a cheese quesadilla and he had another EEG which still showed seizure activity soooo...continuing with the meds it is. By far, the biggest highlight of Riley World was Halloween. Have you ever seen a happier Princess Peach in your life!!

J2 moved out in the spring. I thought I would really, really miss him. I did not. Well. Not as much as I thought. :P  Except perhaps this past month. 2 words. Advent calendar. Not to worry…he is planning on moving back home in the coming year. Not sure how I feel about that. I was getting used to being able to see the entry hall floor free from all his shoes. 

J1 is still enjoying his life on the road and making music with Brett Eldredge. Best gig ever...touring and opening for Keith Urban this past year. Worst fail ever...not introducing ME to Keith Urban.  :O

I had a less than stellar start to my year. I made the decision to do the #LosetheBooze Challenge in February. Yea. WTH was I thinking?!?!?!  I did not enjoy it. AT. ALL!!! One thing is for sure…I am not getting wiser as I get older.

However, for the first time EVER, I did not have to listen to Riley muttering away the “THE CLOCK IS WRONG!!” in November. G & I managed to sync all the clocks for DST. GO US!!!

G continued to work on our ensuite shower for the 4^th year in a row. I'm going to leave it at that. 

From our family to yours, may 2017 bring you good health, much happiness and laughter with friends and family and of course, lots of memory-making adventures!!!  Cheers!!

Wrapping Up Christmas 2013

Finally! As of yesterday Christmas was officially over in our house. Granted Christmas was finished in Riley World on January 2^nd…hey undecorating the tree is just the tip of the iceberg.

Ummmmm....yah...thanks Ri.

So just to bring a little blog closure to 2013…here was how our December went down.

December 2^nd:  Tree decorating. First time EVER that Riley wanted to “participate” in decorating the tree…sorta. R did not want to touch or place any decorations on the tree. However he was a very good director and G was a very good placer. 

December 8^th:  My mom treated my sister, R and me to Odysseo by Cavalia. 

R slept through the entire first half. He woke up at intermission and was ready to leave. We didn’t. He proceeded to whine through most of the second half. The conversation on the way out:

R: That was fun!!
Gma: Did you enjoy that Riley?
R: Yes grandma. I enjoyed that.
Auntie S: Did you like it Riley?
R: Yes Auntie S...I liked it.

Oh really.  *smh* 

December 12-14^th:  Since we are on a “gap year” in Riley World we decided to take to the air/road. The three of us (J2 is not on a gap year therefore had to stay home and work…boo hoo) decided to head south for some sun and fun just before Christmas. First stop was Viva Las Vegas. It was National Rodeo week and J1 was playing so what better excuse than to go see him.

December 14-19^th:  We headed west to sunny and warmer Palm Springs for 5 nights. We have some very generous friends who let us stay at their home away from home. My cousin/husband joined us for the weekend and G got in 4 rounds of golf while R and I lazed around the pool. 

December 23^rd:  Riley got his first ride in an ambulance. That was fun. NOT! Since this is an entire blog post in itself…here are the Coles notes: he almost passed out; he has a history of seizures (although he has never had a grand mal); I was alone with him; I panicked; after 2-1/2 hours in emergency we came home and he slept for the next 15 hours. He was better by Christmas morning.
 

December 25^th:  Christmas dinner at my sister’s. A deeeeeelicious turkey dinner was enjoyed by all. Well. Almost all of us.   

Click here or on the pic to watch the video.

You know you want to.  :)

December 26^th:  A fatality in Riley World. After the discovery of R’s beloved Puppy’s remains and a day of shock and dismay (mine), we celebrated the life of Puppy. 

December 30^th:  Santa surprised G and sent him back with J1 to his new home in Nashville for 5 days. I'm not sure who was more excited about that...G or me?!?  I kid...I KID!!!  

2014 has already seen some changes in Riley World that I am excited to share with you. Here’s to more forward than backward steps and as always wine laughs, lots and lots of wine laughs.

Cheers!!!  Di

2014 Starts NOW!

GAH!!! Is it already the 4^th of January!!  As I seem to be having a harder and harder time multi-tasking prefer to live in the moment…my blog was one of the first things to fall by the wayside last month. I do plan on sharing all our Kodak moments but for now a quick little post to let you know we are still alive and kicking.

December came and went in a flurry of activities. We had a few “FIRSTS” in Riley World which is always cause to celebrate. On December 2^nd Riley helped G decorate our tree and unbeknownst to me…Christmas was finished in Riley World on January 2^nd.

So come Monday Riley World will be back in full swing. Give me strength.  :)

Ringing In a new year...

Haaaallooooo????  Anybody there???

I have been struggling for the past week or so trying to write a post to sum up this past year. After all it is tradition to look back and celebrate/mourn and bid farewell/good riddance to the current year. I got about as far as making this picture on PicMonkey last week.

 2013 was indeed an eventful year in Riley World.

Yet here I sit.

Past noon on the last day of 2013.

Staring at a blank page.

Tapping the keyboard…hoping that something inspiring would appear on the blank page.

Whistling. Yes. I did whistle.

And still……

Nothing. 

Nada.  *heavy sigh*

I even went so far as trying different spacing.  *wink*

And then…it hit me. I have NEVER liked New Year’s Eve. For me there has always been a certain pressure around it. When I was younger I felt I needed to have THE best time of the year on the 31^st. Now???  Heck…I can barely stay up until midnight and there is something to be said about comfy clothes and having your bed only steps away.

And let us not forget the pressures of making resolutions… “dieting” usually made my list year after year. GAH!!! 

And don’t get me started on the over-priced, over-inflated costs of a night out on the town!!!

Eeep…forgive me. See! Scarred I tell ya. Is there a term for a New Year’s Eve Scrooge?!?!?   

So until tomorrow... 

From our family to yours…may 2014 bring good health, much happiness and many exciting adventures!!! 

A Trial Separation

You may have noticed that it has been somewhat quiet here in Riley World since the holiday break. Before I go any further it is not what you think. I did, however, make a conscious decision to take a much needed social media break over the holidays. I will admit I did not go cold turkey.

Image Source

What started as a blog turned into Twitter, then Facebook and most recently Pinterest. I should know better. I have a tendency to get obsessed and one of the reasons why I have not gone the route of an iPhone…yet. 

Drats…I should have taken a picture of that!

I wonder what’s happening with e-friend-A…did she go with the red or blue one?

No I don’t have time to talk right now I need to make a status update/tweet/blog/pin something…it’s been over an hour!

These feelings reminded me of how I felt when I started out in Riley World…overwhelmed! Not to make light of the many, MANY differences between Riley World and Social Media World; yet the terminology, acronyms, political correctness…same game only the names have been changed.

I am sure this has something to do with aging. I used to be a pretty good multi-tasker if I might say so myself. I could type a letter with carbon copies, file, and fax with the best of them.

Yet at this stage in my life my skill set has pretty much reached its max. Not to worry I have not given up and will continue to plug away at my own pace and try not to let my FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) get the better of me.

Trust me; I make no resolutions as that, more than likely, will be a guarantee of failure for me. Instead I hope you will come back on Monday for this week’s Listicles topic as chosen by my pal Stasha “10 Things I have NO Intention of Changing in 2013”. It is sure to be a good one. 

Have a great weekend!  

Feliz Ano Nuevo!

Best wishes from our family to yours for a Happy & Healthy 2012!

D, G, J1, J2 & Riley

Ready or Not...Here We Come!!!

In less than 2 days we leave for a family reunion (G’s side) and to celebrate New Year’s at an all-inclusive in Mexico.  Ole!  Up to now we have never travelled outside of Canada/US with R.  Even travelling south of the border could be stressful.  Did you know that, for instance, Lay’s Salt & Vinegar potato chips are packaged in a greeny-blue bag in Canada and a turquoisy-blue bag in the US.  While this may or may not be an issue for most of us…it has been an issue for R.  The bag is “different” therefore the chips must be “different” therefore he doesn’t want them.  

When we all decided the destination would be Mexico, I was excited (I’ve never been to an all-inclusive or the east coast of Mexico), then nervous (what would R eat???), then went into problem-solving mode (we would need suitcases…HUGE suitcases in order to transport a weeks worth of food/cooking supplies).  Of course, I will carry-on the all important “small sieve” for the seasoning packets of Mr. Noodles as, mentioned in my Random Thoughts posting, any visible flecks of green are unacceptable.  As I highly doubt there is a Wal-Mart close by…we will also be packing “back-ups” for most of R’s electronics /accessories that could conceivably break down.

R has been SO focused on “waiting patiently to open his presents” that I had a hard time finding the right moment to tell him we would be going away on vacation to someplace "different".  I mean really…why get him fixated on more than one thing at a time?!?!?  As Riley’s gotten older we can sometimes operate on a “need to know” basis for certain “desirables”.  Even still, being the coward that I am, I waited until after lunch yesterday (Christmas day) when he was upstairs preoccupied with his multitude of new DVD’s before “adjusting” his visual schedule to show going on an airplane and vacation (thankfully both much desired activities).  Luckily putting up new PCS (Picture Communication Symbols) does not involve ripping Velcro, is therefore silent and can be done without R noticing…that is until he walks by. 

He immediately noticed his schedule and muttered to himself “YOU are going away on vacation”.  When I answered enthusiastically with “No, WE are going on vacation TOGETHER on a BIG airplane!”…R responded with “Yahoooo we’re going on a big airplane!”  Not quite sure when I’m going to break it to him it’s going to be a 5-1/2 hour flight.  Oish. 

Five years ago the idea of going outside of North America would’ve never crossed my mind.  So what’s changed?  Over the years R has continued to grow and mature.  We are also very fortunate to have the unconditional support of family and friends which has allowed us the flexibility to try new and different things.  Knowing we could ask for help and being offered help with things like R’s food means so much.  Who knows…maybe R will even acquire a taste for Mexican food and it’ll open up a whole new world of dining experiences when we come home. 

Adios, D