Updating Randomly - September 24, 2011

A list. In bullet form. And not much else, form-wise.

• First, my Amazon make-affiliate-links-easily widget seems to be dead. If you know how to get it to be undead, do share.
• Still working on finding my tribe of special needs moms. I reached out to a local email list looking for others like me and received three replies. One asked about a meetup I'd mentioned in passing - without a please, a thank you, or a "me too" in there. I sent her the information she wanted and never heard a thing. One zoomed right in on a comment I made in passing within my post about my writing/editing work and wanted to meet up to talk about how she could get herself into writing/editing. I had to just move past that with some eye rolling. And one was a fellow mama looking for someone with whom to connect. We had coffee yesterday and it was fantastic. One reply made it all worth it.
• Consignment season is winding down. I was very, very restrained at the one sale I went to yesterday. A cute girly outfit, two sweaters, a fleece top. That's it. And the prices weren't even that great, but the kid really did (still does) need some warmer clothes for the short-but-cold winter we get here in Georgia. She's otherwise set though.
• Sometimes I am just so tired of everything. 
• Sometimes I am able to swim to the surface again and look at the sun.
• The kid takes steps now, will stand for many seconds now, and is babbling strings of consonants and vowels with inflection and with occasional words mushed in. (She's loud.) 
• And yet her PT told me she may someday still need a stroller/chair for field trips, when she's older. I know the reality of my daughter's abilities, but I really would like to stay positive, focus on the now, and worry about the then in three or four years. Because she's doing so well. And she hates being confined in a stroller right now and much prefers to walk (with her walker or holding someone's hand). But she's getting heavy now and carrying her is getting harder. And I know she may still need assistance and I know that this is OK. But I don't like hearing it. Because I don't know what I believe anymore.
• Pumpkin season is upon us. I made pumpkin cream cheese and pumpkin spice syrup for coffee. I also made 100-calorie cupcakes (not pumpkin, but still good). I have plans to make pumpkin-oatmeal muffiny things. I found a lot of this stuff on Pinterest. Feel free to follow me there.
• I'm in my fourth week of doing Weight Watchers. Even with a trip out of town, two long car rides, and several dinners out, I've lost almost six pounds and am on my way to my 5% goal. I like this system - I like that it gives me parameters and goals and I like the accountability. I have no judgment about the old points vs. the new points, and I don't care if you did or didn't like WW for yourself or if you use a free system instead. I just know that for now, this is working for me and I like it. Now to just start adding in more exercise... (Perhaps starting the 30-day Shred again...or getting my Wii fixed so I can do Wii Fit? I miss my Wii.)
• I've been reading reading reading. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was incredible. The Girl's Guide to Homelessness was heartbreaking and fantastic. And I'm concurrently reading Blue Jelly: Love Lost and the Lessons of Canning, Spoiled, and the The Man Who Ate the World: In Search of the Perfect Dinner. Oh how I wish I just had the widgety thing - making those links was kind of a pain. FULL CIRCLE! WOOT WOOT!