Category Archives: Personal Insanity

Tammy’s Life. Everything you wanted to know. Sort of.

The Best Mother’s Day Present? It’s Over.

mom with son and daughter at brunch on Mother's Day

So Mother’s Day is over, and all I can say is, thank the gods. I know most moms look forward to Mother’s Day. Probably because they’re normal and well-adjusted people who are totally chill about spending a nice Sunday with family, getting an over-priced piece of jewelry designed by Jane Seymour, and maybe going out…

Happy Adoption Day — To the Dog

Yellow dog in car -- Lab Finnish Lapphund

Today is Jasper Adoption Day. One year ago, we brought home our little 10-pound puppy. Now he’s a whopping 70+ (frankly not sure of the exact amount because I hurt my back trying to weigh him the last time). I love having a dog. And I wouldn’t exchange Jasper for any other one, even though…

My Name’s Tammy and I’m a Cake Froster-holic

DIY Thomas Train snowy winter cake with toy trains

So just to solidly make the case that I’m absolutely off my rocker, I’m sharing the following. Actually, let me back up. Over the last couple of days, I posted some pictures of the cupcakes I helped make for a school fundraiser, and people have made some lovely comments about my decorating abilities. The thing…

Realizing Your Grass Looks Greener from Someone Else’s Side

white fence -- grass is always greener on the other side

The other night, while I was up with insomnia, I started making a “You Suck” list. It’s just one of many lists that go through my head when my other non-sleeping choices are to: Make a list from the other 100 lists regarding everything from “Brilliant blog posts that come to me…at 2 a.m.” to…

Puerto Vallarta Vacation: The Good, The Bad, and The TSA Agent

Boy riding floating blue seal raft in swimming pool

So we’re back from Mexico. We failed to get pictures of us swimming with dolphins, ate one of the best meals of our lives, and almost got in a fist fight with a TSA agent. Just your typical spring break… A little background: Tenzin, my husband, and I made the monumentally bad decision to purchase…

Helping Your Kid Out of Autism — The Preschool Post

Newt, age 3, coming out of school.

More tales from the autism front. Today’s questions come from the mother of “Tara,” a 3-and-a-half year old who was just diagnosed. Keep in mind that I’ve never met these people, so I’m basically just relaying what we did in these same situations. Our son, Newt, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at the same age and…

Carry On: Six Months without Logan

Logan

Second post of the day, but not for a very good reason. It’s been six months since we lost my cousin, Logan. It’s funny that we use that word. Lost. Like finding the person is an option or possibility at some point. “Lost” conjures up a temporary condition. Maybe that’s why we use it. We…

How to Have a Birthday Party for the Dog

Birthday party for the Honda Pilot

Yesterday was my dog’s first birthday. We actually thought it was this coming Monday (based on our best estimates), but our friend* who got a puppy from the same litter posted her dog’s picture on Facebook and, well, oops. I’m guessing most people don’t celebrate their dogs’ birthdays. We’re a little odd**. On the one…

Destroying the House, Chinese New Year Style

Decorating for Chinese New Year

So every year for I don’t know how many years (I’d have to look it up) we’ve had a Chinese New Year party. It’s something my husband, Tenzin, and I always wanted to do before we had kids but never managed to pull together. Then we tried to do it after kids and could never…

Schools and (Lack of) ABA Therapy — What We Think Helped Our Son with Autism

Newt at 3

So last week, I wrote about what my son, Newt, was like as a young child and what led us to get him tested for autism. This week, I’ll give you the not-so-brief rundown of what we ended up doing for school and what we didn’t do for therapy. On the day he was diagnosed…