Etsy on Sale

Here is the cool link to our Knotty list...aka... our holiday sale!

http://www.etsyonsale.com/shop/knottmom

Have a blessed day!

The very BEST interview with Martha Stewart EVER!!

This is hilarious! Its worth taking a few minutes to go watch it!

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/tv/blogs/tv-buzz-blogpost.aspx?post=d66a3ca4-e207-490a-8842-477e34afbb1b&GT1=28103

LOL Hilarious!!!   LOVE IT!

Last post continued...

For some reason, that didnt post like it showed... so lets try it this way!

http://arealradmom.blogspot.com/2010/11/when-others-don-not-understand.html?spref=fb

This is what i was trying to post.   When RAD Moms unite, we are strong!  :?)

and here is another article I found quite intriguing...

http://www.attachment.org/pages_parents_articles20.php

It is entitled "The Power of Prayer in Parenting  by Nancy Thomas"

Reactive Attachment Disorder is a biggie, but, with the proper mindset, the right heart, and faith; it is one mountain we can defeat!
 

A borrowed post that MORE than applies!

Thank you Jamie for posting this!  The more people that know about this, the more "maistream it becomes, the easier it will be to help children later on!  There is hope! This is "curable"!  Don't give up the fight!

11.11.10

When Others Don Not Understand

 If you don't get it please read this it is from my book:
 When love is Not Enough (A guide to Parenting children with RAD) excerpt:

Chapter: From Others Toward RAD Parents

Other abuse that Parents often endure comes from clueless outsiders. They say things like you

Parent too tough, like a Nazi

Are not strict enough

Are crazy or have Munchausen’s Syndrome, Borderline Personality Disorder, are Histrionic etc.

Are a bad parent

Don’t like/love the child

Scape-goat the child

Are not trying hard enough

Just need to love him more

These well-meaning outsiders have no idea how deeply these things hurt and how much damage they do with their attacks. Our children have special needs and require much more time, energy, patience, and love. Those critics do not know of what they speak. The best way to deal with them is to educate and inform. If that is unsuccessful, do not interact with those that will drain your energy and take your focus from healing the heart of your child.

Nancy Thomas gave me and anyone else who needs it permission to copy the following letter below to give to anyone who doesn’t seem to understand.

SPECIAL NEEDS FOR SPECIAL KIDS

Written by Nancy Thomas

Children with broken hearts and wounded minds have special needs. When children have an early separation, abuse, neglect or medical interventions they are at high risk for Attachment Disorders.

If you had child “A” with diabetes and child “B” standing next to him that was healthy would you look at child “A” and say , “He doesn’t look like he has diabetes to me!”? People do that all the time to parents with an emotionally disturbed child!! How rude and discounting! What if child A & B were both at a birthday party and were both given big pieces of cake because “all children should be treated the same”? Child “A” could end up in the hospital. It is the same with children who have special needs because of mental illness. If they are both given the same privileges a child with Attachment Disorder will not feel safe and could end up in the hospital (psych hospital)!

Picture yourself as a parent of child “A” that must be given insulin injections to sty alive. Imagine how painful that must be to have to cause pain to a loved one to keep them healthy! What if some well-meaning, clueless person stood by as you had the needle poised to inject your child with life sustaining insulin and said “Oh! Don’t do that! It’s mean! I don’t do that to my children and they turned out fine!” Would it make it any easier to do what must be done for your child? Would it help the child who must endure the injections? Why then do folks feel it is okay to do it to parents with children that have wounded minds?! Children that are sexual perpetrators or violent with others cannot run and play with other children. Other parents do not understand how quickly one of these children can grab a crotch or poke out an eye and often judge and condemn parents for keeping their child in close and out of trouble rather than realizing how difficult it is to watch them every second to keep them and others safe. How tacky is to explain to every intruder that your child has this problem and how humiliating for the child to hear it told to all!

What happened to trusting and honoring each other for our efforts to help our children? Parents love their children and are doing the best they can for them. Ho about supporting and encouraging those with difficult children! Yes, there are wackos out there, but thankfully they are few. The rest of us parents are doing the best we can. We all make mistakes but we make less when we are supported and understood than when we are judged and condemned. You want to help? Let a parent know what they are doing RIGHT and give them a hug and a smile!

Every Thanksgiving...

I try to make homemade Cranberry Chutney. It is soo yummy. I make it fresh and is a nice treat instead of the usual canned cranberry sauce.  So since I am sick, I thought I'd go easy on myself tonight and share this recipe with you.

                                                  CRANBERRY CHUTNEY

serves- 4

1/2 cup cranberries frozen/thawed                           1/4 cup onion, finely diced
3 tbsp sugar                                                              1 medium apple, peeled, diced 
1 tbsp brown sugar                                                   2 tbsp raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon                                                   
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup celery, finely diced

In a medium-sized sauce pan, bring water to a boil. Add all the above ingredients EXCEPT apples and raisins.  Simmer for 15 minutes. Add apples and simmer for an additional 10 minutes, or until apples are soft. Remove from heat and stir in raisins while sauce is still hot. Cool Thouroughly.
    Serve as an accompaniment to carved turkey.
***  I prefer to use fresh cranberries and cook them until they are no longer firm, then use them in the recipe.  Also, I use golden raisins for my picky eaters.. they think they are apples and I will use the (Granny Smith?) apples, the yellowish green ones for baking. I also quadruple the recipe for my family of 7.***

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!  Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

I think I'm Starting to get the hang of this!

It took me 3 hours,.. but i think I finally have this thing set up right!  I've been very busy with all the usual kids stuff, trying to improve my pictures on Etsy, setting up my HOLIDAY SALE!!! on Etsy (whoo hoo!),  figuring this thing out,.. fixing our new house, extra appts. at the Via, preparing for craft shows, adding to my Etsy shop, brainstorming contect for this blog, trying to figure out a budget for Christmas and what one gift per kid would be most appreciated (dear Lord its that time again already??!!) ahhhh... I'm almost on overload!  LOL
For those of you who don't know- my 7 year old step-son, Louis, has reactive attachment disorder. He is currently at a residential treatment center recieving 24/7 treatment for this disorder. The prognosis is very good, but it is a very time consuming, lengthy process. (Upon admission, his projected treatment time was 18-24 months!)  It is something that is very diffucult for the entire family!   For more information, please visit Louis at http://www.radkidnm.com/ . There is information about Louis' situation, a link to the treatment center and also a link to attachment.org which will give you more information about Reactive Attachment Disorder.  If you are a mom dealing with a child afflicted with this, join us on Facebook! I created the group "Reactive Attachment Disorder Moms" for moms to connect, share their stories, over resources, hope and support... You are NOT alone! Join us!
Most of you know that I suffered a stroke 3 yrs ago. What some of you dont know is this:
the stroke resulted in limited use of my entire left side, left a 1cm x 4cm hole in my brain and affected the part of the brain that controls fine motor skills. I have found that working on my crafts, at  my pace, helps to challenge that part of my brain to keep it functioning better. It is totally exhausting! (I function well for about 3 hrs, then i cant funtion/concentrate and I have to rest for a while.  Unfortunately this does not allow me to hold down a conventional job. So, to help my husband financially (since we have the added responsibility of Louis special needs), I started my Etsy shop!
Also on that same note **TO ALL MY FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK WHOM I HAVE RECENTLY FRIENDED**  I had lost my memory when I had my stroke.  I do lots of searches trying to jar some of those memories..so to those of you whom i have recently friended...your name stirred something. A lot of it, I dont know what it is, but your name was familiar somehow.  So i have made friend requests on my continued search for my lost memories... Its actually been a fun journey so far!

Well, it is time for me to move on to my next activity for today... (ihave to not only budget my time but also my physical stamina!)

Have a beautiful and blessed day!

My Latest Undertaking

Well, I finally did it!  After much prompting,.. I finally started a blog! It will be slow going at first while I figure this thing out, but I've started it!   In this blog I will be posting about many things,..Life, family, our struggles with Reactive Attachment Disorder,.. crafting,.. my Etsy shop,.. and anything else I can think of!
I hope to be able to educate, enlighten, support, and comfort many of you!
Have a Blessed Day!