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Candid

The start of a new day. The start of a new year. The ocean swirls with relentless currents, churning, pushing down and pushing up. Creativity is much the same. This starts my first blog post of new beginnings. Candid though it be; raw without restraint.  Upon this candid beginning starts the rush for unbridled creativity to be noticed for being outside the box of typical thoughts and solutions.  I seek to enlighten as candid thoughts can do; to bring about responses such like, “I never thought of that.” Candid is spontaneous. Candid is eye-opening. This is my mission: to provide the candid creativity of craft and the crafted.

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Clever Crafty Antimere will present living creatively. As a mother of three boys, candid remedies are a necessity to daily life. Stop in and see how creatively crafty our clan can be. From building a 3D printer without instructions (because they couldn’t be found or they weren’t in the box) to making new and useful items from resourced materials, you’ll find something interesting to buzz about.

Questions or comments?

 

creative

Cocoa Beach Pier

The family spent the last night before the end of vacation. We ate at Pier 62. How enjoyable it was to get deliscious calamari. Others ordered salad and fish and chicken. It was an evening of balmy but windy. The night air gave an energy of youth and freedom. As I walked along the pier, the wind blew fresh salty humidity, causing me vigor and cleansing.

Luis, happy in his chair, moving about the deck, and stimming in the breeze. How happy and thrilled to be some place else than his usual schedule.

Happiness, cheer and elation for diversion help renew our hearts from the daily drawls.

creative · parenting · rehabilitation

Easter Morning

My eldest son called before sunrise and said, “I’m arriving at 8:50 according to google maps.”

I flew to be ready and wait for the bus to arrive. His robotics competition was finished. They brought an award home for gracious professionalism. A grand achievement.

As I drove to the designated place for pickup, the sun was rising and fighting with the clouds for the front of the sky. Cracks in the clouds gave the sun teasing possibilities to be shine and be seen. As I sat in the car, the clouds, with the help of the wind overpowered the sun, and the sky stayed grey on this day of celebration.

I try and imagine what that day was like when He wasn’t where his closest friends thought He would be. At first, saddened to face their dead friend and teacher. Then, confusion for not finding Him. Many drawings about that day show the sun shining through clouds and lots of bright light.

What if it wasn’t bright sunshine? What if it were a day like I am encountering today? A struggle between the sun and the clouds, pushing and pulling, gaining and losing.

This helps me to understand on a cellular level the amazing miracle finished and renewed by God. The constant struggle we face on a daily basis to make the best decisions, and acknowledge our gratitude for making salvation possible for anyone who wants it.

My son has yet to arrive. The wait will be worth it because, just like Jesus’ friends, the joy of the encounter will be immeasurable.

creative · disabilities · parenting

Homeschool so far

We’ve been doing this for two years now and I see the benefits outweigh the problems.

My three sons are on different journeys. All three have different modalities to learning. While this can be perceived as an acrobatic feat, it meets my individuals where they are in their learning.

The youngest has been in homeschool for several years, but has impairment. Teaching him has been so rewarding because he’s had more learning to do. His education has focused on rehabilitation from his tragic accident ten years ago. We thought he would never walk. He does that now.

My middle son has other challenges. He struggles with himself. He is gifted but lacks confidence. Giving him the opportunity to learn at his own pace has improved his confidence.

My eldest has the combination of both worlds. He is incredibly talented with certain modalities of learning that are not accessible in the regular school curriculum. He had to be homeschooled so that his curriculum would reflect his desired learning. Left with the track system in his past school would have caused a severe rejection of learning.

It’s unfortunate that the public and private school sectors don’t have the flexibility of homeschooling. I’m grateful for my teaching degree because I have the knowledge of curriculum design with the parental knowledge of my students to help them succeed in their learning.

creative

Too Long

I looked at stats and found it to be extremely dismal. This is to be expected from the incredible, personal distractions of life that don’t stop happening.

I suppose I shouldn’t be hard on myself but I find that since life has dealt me hard I should come back harder still, and give it the most intentional punch back.

That intentional punch back is to start with a weekly post. I started many posts but didn’t finish because of all the punching I do at prioritizing the needs I fulfill as a caregiver.

I’m desperately hopeful that I will find my success more and more each week as one more post moves into completion. Cheers to hard-headed determination!

creative

bible.com/bible/116/mat.7.24.NLT

This is so true to me now because of my experience with three days of hurricane. The whole time the wind was blowing, I kept thinking about the storm the disciples were in and how afraid they were to the point of waking Jesus. I held onto that visual all three days. I am so thankful. We truly are small in comparison to Nature, yet we have indefinite influence. Think twice. Act once.

creative · disabilities · parenting · rehabilitation

Progress with Patience and Persistence

My work is never finished. I rise before the dawn often coming from a two hour nap just hours before. He’s been striving to achieve, and I’m thankful. I never know when the miracle comes, and it’s better that way. I persist because of this. I believe he does his best to maintain reciprocity.

It’s these moments I feel it necessary to be his cheerleader.

Overcoming left side defecit.

He manifests progress in mysterious ways. He learns to creep his achievements. Using his strong right hand to hold onto the counter top, he shifts his weight to host his body, while moving towards the sink. Then, as if he changed his mind, he turns his body around, holding with one hand then switching to his weakest hand to hold on the counter. All the while he has nothing to balance himself except for his legs.

I froze as I watched him work this out for the first time.

“Take your time”, I encouraged.

Step by slow, deliberate step. He did it! When he reached me, I pulled him into a big hug. He looked up at me, smiling with great pride.

Each day is new! Hallelujah.

creative · parenting

Eating Better

I’m all about trying to find ways to be healthy. Food seems to be an easier way sometimes since getting outside can be harder. Plus it proves to be a win-win for all involved. I get to be creative, the men in my home get tasty food and everyone dies good for their bodies. Especially since one of my guys has hypotonia. This strongly forgotten and ever present phenomena is culprit to a lot of chronic constipation and medical fragility.

Hypotonia means lack of muscle tone in the body. It means a need for exercise and/or dietary restrictions. The right amount of fiber from vegetables helps the body.

Update:

Coincidentally or not, my son has developed regularity since September 27, 2021. After tracking on a daily basis, I noticed that his hypotonia is less of a variable when the Vegas Nerve Stimulator has a new battery. Everything flows.

We haven’t had to track fiber every day. As long as he eats some fiber combined with the daily water intake each day, he achieves what most elderly don’t.

The bigger test or confirmation of what occurs will happen when we see the battery losing battery life. Will we be using more meds to counter the chronic constipation?

Only steady observation and tracking will help me to find the answers.

creative

Homebound

Here I sit with my disabled son. I love him and yet, I’m frustrated to the brink of a primal scream. I know, I should be ashamed of myself. Not everyone can do this. This job that I have without monetary compensation, but lots of spiritual reward.


I’m thankful for his delightful demeanor. He likes to laugh and play using my hands to clap. He seems to be happy all the time, even when he’s sick. He gets sick often. With music playing, he bops up and down with the rhythm of the song. He’s feeling better after having a miserable week of refusing food, drink and anything fun. His ear infection seems as though it left, but I’m still required to be at his side.


He’s weak from not walking. Watching him all night has left me drained and tired, ready to use the hard wood floor as my bed and pillow. But I hold off and wait for the opportunity to have someone else watch him while I close my eyes for moments at a time. My hope for sleeping at a normal time has slipped through my hands as I receive a phone call from the night nurse. She can’t make it tonight. It shouldn’t matter. I usually work two nights and two days in a row, but it does matter.


Maybe it’s because I was looking forward to a lost opportunity to sleep for more hours than the typical four. Or maybe it matters because the five consecutive years of his needs have escalated to a cliffhanging level.
Irony can be a humble teacher because as of this day (4/18/21), I am the official night nurse. I have all seven nights to watch. My night nurse is now the day nurse. Life has a funny way of teaching us to appreciate the situation at present because life happens.


These words ~ from 2/21
Update:

Depression comes in many forms and this isn’t any different. It’s hard to believe that a caregiver can have depression. Their job is to care for for others who need help.

If a caregiver isn’t selfish in the sense of taking care of self then depression has a way of creeping in.
To counter this, exercise really can help.

My brother sent me two books, which have helped me to fight against the fall-ins of caregiving. 7 Caregiver Land Mines And How You Can Avoid Them by Peter W. Rosenberger helps me with the biggest challenge of preventing myself from taking everything personally. Yes, I changed to present tense because I still read this book repeatedly for memory.

Lack of sleep is the biggest cause of memory decline. As demanding as caregiving can be, I still want to remember all the laughing moments and growth moments when my son demonstrates progress.

His second book, Hope for the Caregiver, has encouraging words to keep me going through it all. Within this book, chapter four is very important. It’s titled “Your Decision To Serve”.

Believe it or not, if you’re a caregiver you made the decision to serve and not run from the challenge. “According to the greatest, and most often-quoted source in human history, the carpenter from Nazareth, you are among a group He calls ‘the greatest of these’.” (p. 40). We, caregivers have reached the pinnacle of “earthly success “.

Take heart. Be encouraged and take care of yourself.

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I Found a 1930s Grammar Textbook in My Closet — Dysfunctional Literacy

Old books are awesome! When I was going through a bunch of stuff in my closets a few months ago, I found this old grammar book from the 1930s. I actually got excited about it. If I had found a grammar book from 1983, I wouldn’t have cared because it probably would have brought back […]

via I Found a 1930s Grammar Textbook in My Closet — Dysfunctional Literacy